Bubble Therapy
by Cynthia Smit
Summary: Harriet Potter, displaced in a world where people have strange powers and nobody speaks her language, is pretty sure she's screwed. Until that is, she finds herself a family. This is not the original story
1. Chapter 1

It was not surprising that death had finally come for Hayano Hibiki. Over his long years as the Daimyo of his small but prosperous country, he had accumulated a long list of enemies.

Still, He never thought it would end quite like this. With his guard dead around him, and his two small children sobbing in the mud, his form over them in a futile effort to protect them.

His leg throbbed where it had taken a deep slash with a sword, and he was becoming weak with blood loss. Desperation was all that kept him conscious.

"Please," he begged in a voice made harsh with pain. "They're mere children - barely four years old. They don't need to die."

The shinobi surrounding them didn't say anything, and he knew he had lost. They had been hired by dissidents who wanted to see his brother leading their country instead, and shinobi always followed orders.

"It's okay, my flowers," he whispered to his poor, sweet children. "It will hurt only for a moment, and then we will be together again -"

He was cut off as one of the shinobi grabbed his hair and yanked him away. He gave a hoarse shout as he was dragged across the mud, hand reaching towards the only thing in this world he loved.

"You are to know that they are dying because of your own misguided arrogance," an almost bored voice said behind him, and Hibiki shuddered when he realized part of their orders was to make him watch.

"Fruit Country will be taken care of in your absence."

Hibiki, who never cracked his serene expression, never raised his voice or gave anything away, choked out a sob, and begged for his children's lives. The pleas fell on deaf ears, and he watched, tears and snot mixing with the mud on his face, pride a long forgotten thing, as the other black-clad man raised the sword above his son's tiny, terrified body.

As the sword began to descend a voice called out something strange and incomprehensible, and a blue jet of light flashed across the clearing and hit the ninja, who stiffened before falling. Right on the hit's heels, another beam of light whooshed past Hibiki towards his captor, who pushed him away in order to jump back into the waving grass around them.

Hibiki crawled over to his children, who grabbed his muddied and bloodied robes and pushed up against him. Unable to run, he watched as the slim figure of a girl rose from the grass, hand gripping a stick and holding it out in front of her, steps light, but obviously not shinobi trained.

The shinobi made a few hand signs, and the girl's eyes widened as small rocks propelled towards her. With a slash of the stick, a blue shield popped up in front of her, stopping the projectiles with a crackle of strange energy before she pushed herself into a roll. The battle that raged next was a strange one, and Hibiki felt himself falling in and out of consciousness.

Finally, the clearing fell quiet, and then green, green eyes were peering into his before the world around him went dark.

000

Harriet Potter was screwed. This wasn't anything new and exciting for her.

Actually, the camping out in strange forests while avoiding enemies brought back some not-so-fun memories from a few years ago. The part where she had no idea where she was, didn't seem to speak any of the local languages, and kept being attacked by strange men and women with super-human abilities was new and exciting.

Harriet had selfishly wished more than once that Hermione had come along on this little adventure with her. Without her friend, she was starting to think she was stuck, and that was...well, that was bad.

The only real blessing in all of this was that she had been looking for their target in a copse of thick woods with her squad when whatever it was that happened...happened. Since she was the rookie, she had been stuck carrying their camping gear.

Harriet never could understand how she could simultaneously have such good and bad luck all at once.

The past few years after the defeat of Voldemort had been relaxing. She had gone back to school with Ron and Hermione for their last year, passed their NEWTS, then took some time off to help raise Teddy until he was old enough for preschool. She'd joined an anonymous support group with Hermione for survivors after the war, and focused on just being happy for the first time in her life. Harriet had gone to Weasley family dinners and been Maid of Honor and Best Woman at Ron and Hermione's wedding. She had babysat Fleur and Bill's child and for a while, it had been blissful. Until the restlessness settled in.

When Kingsley had come to her a little after her nineteenth birthday with a pamphlet titled Joining the Auror Corps, she had already known what she would say. The physical training and spellcasting had been easy. The rest had been difficult, frustrating, and also extremely fascinating.

She had learned how to pick up clues, both magical and mundane, from a crime scene. She'd discovered how to control her temper (something she still struggled with from time to time) while tracking and apprehending a suspect. Interrogation techniques, survival training, basic field healing and first aid...these were all skills that made sense for an Auror to have, but that she'd never really considered before.

Eight months of training, and then she'd been put on the Ministry's new Dark Wizard Strike Team as the rookie. It wasn't her first choice, despite the catchy name and the fact that she was basically working with the best of the best. The new team had garnered a lot of press and attention, as Kingsley had dubbed it the first defense against the rise of a new dark wizard.

The twenty-person team had been more than just heavy hitters - five of them were for analysis alone, led by none other than Hermione Granger. She had spent three years getting a degree in muggle statistics and criminology along with her Masters in Transfiguration and Arithmancy before joining the team. Harriet still shuddered at the memories of color-coded charts and time turners.

Hermione's team had used their numbers and research to set up markers that would help identify groups of people and individuals that seemed to be causing the same sort of problems Grindelwald and Voldemort had at the beginning of their reigns. It was all very complicated and over Harriet's head, but she understood enough to know it was groundbreaking.

Ron had been second in command of the whole squad - already a rising star for his strategies and steady hand. For once in their lives, it had been Hermione and Ron that were taking the spotlight, and Harriet had enjoyed it immensely. They'd only tried to put her in front of the press once, and it had been such a disaster that their squad leader, Hansley, had laughed himself silly for about thirty minutes before telling the higher-ups that they'd be going back to their original liaison.

So Harriet's fear of being nothing more than a poster girl finally abated, and after three months the rest of the squad had started to relax around her, see her as Harriet instead of the Girl Who Lived. It was refreshing, and she was as happy as she could be.

And then a dark wizard they'd been tracking for weeks had thrown that thrice-cursed statue at her right has she'd sent a stunner his way. When the two collided, there was a burst of light, then she was being squeezed and pulled, and it felt a lot like apparition except much, much worse.

When she had woken up, she was alone, it was raining, and the landscape had completely changed. Its most distinguishing feature was the rocks everywhere, with barely any vegetation in sight. For a few days, she had stayed where she was, waiting for a rescue team as she studied the now-cracked statue that she assumed had brought her there. She had sent out her Patronus with a message twice a day, but each time it returned unsuccessful. Harriet didn't even want to think about what that meant.

The statue had been in the shape of a lion but was now blackened and cracked down the middle and completely mundane. Harriet had used every diagnostic spell she had been taught in training, and it was without a doubt just a statue now - it must have either been a one use artifact, or it had reacted badly with her stunner. So, it wouldn't be taking her back home.

On the fourth day, she was attacked by large, muscled men yelling at her in an unknown language. Luckily, her wards had protected her from their massive attacks of fire, lightning, and water, but the amount of destruction they were capable of was completely mind-boggling. She had quickly packed up her belongings and then gotten the hell out of there.

They had attacked twice more before she'd given up on rescue and started putting Notice Me Not wards up at night.

The landscape had changed from rocks and mountains to flat, grassy land, and that is where she had come upon a man and two children being attacked by more of the superhumans.

There was no way she could watch them kill two small children while their father sobbed and pleaded for their lives feet away. So now she had two terrified kids and their half-dead father in her tent. The children's eyes had widened in disbelief when they discovered the inside of the tent was larger than the outside. It wasn't anything too fancy - a bunker, really, with five beds, a small kitchen, and a bathroom with three shower stalls and a sink.

Thankfully it was well stocked with first aid materials, and so after some quick cleaning spells, which made the children gasp in delight, she set herself to healing the man's wounds as best she could. He was older - probably in his fifties, and in fairly good shape, which was helpful. He didn't have the muscle definition to be a fighter, but he obviously did some form of exercise.

A blood replenishing potion was all she dared to give him since she wasn't sure of what could be paired with what without causing unintended side effects. Her healing spells were more for stabilization of a wound until somebody could be brought to a real healer, but she used them to stop the bleeding of the ugly gash on his thigh before she gritted her teeth and added stitches - something she'd learned at the muggle first aide classes Hermione had demanded their strike team attend.

Finally, she covered it with a paste to combat infection and increase healing speed and wrapped it before covering him up and turning to her two other charges. She knelt down and gave them a soft smile. They were adorable - obviously twins - with dark hair, dark eyes, and olive colored skin.

"Hello," she said. "My name's Harriet Potter. Who are you?"

The girl frowned, and they turned to each other and spoke softly in their language. They then turned back to her, and the girl spoke softly and urgently, but Harriet could only shake her head. Seeing that they were shivering from the rain and mud, she motioned for them to follow her. She went to a trunk and rummaged around until she found two large sweaters that she thought might work for them.

Their large, trusting eyes followed her, and she resolved to give them a stranger danger talk as soon as she figured out their language. Finally, she led them to the showers and turned one on. Their eyes widened, and she mimed washing, showing them the soap, then made sure they saw her pile some towels and the sweaters and socks on a bench.

The little girl gave a determined nod and dragged her brother into the showers. Harriet turned to give them privacy while they bathed, and moved into the other room to do her own cleaning up.

000

The children were adorable. They had done a name exchange, and she discovered they were Natsu and Eito. Her name had been difficult in their native language, and they had taken to calling her Hari, which worked fine - Hermione and Ron often shortened her name to Harry.

Their father had slept through the rest of the day and the night and woke around noon on the second day as Harriet was feeding the children. They rushed to his side, chattering at him in their shared language as they helped him sit up. He swayed but managed to straighten and whisper back to them in a rough voice.

"Natsu," Harriet said.

The girl looked up, and Harriet motioned to the glass in her hand, then to her father. The man was giving her a wary look, and really she couldn't blame him, so instead of approaching him, she let Natsu bring him the water. He studied it for a moment before he probably decided that if Harriet wanted him dead, he would be, and slowly sipped it.

Harriet decided he most likely wouldn't react too badly to her feeding them and served up an extra bowl of soup. She placed four bowls on a tray and slowly walked over to the bed. The whole family had gone quiet, and their identical dark eyes watched her approach, the children with adoration and their father with suspicion.

She sat down cross-legged on the floor and put the tray between them. She then grabbed her bowl of soup and proceeded to eat it, ignoring the family as she did so. After a softly spoken and earnest conversation, the man tipped his head and the children rushed to get their bowls.

His hands shook a bit around his own when Eito carefully handed it to him, but he ate it without apparent trouble, though they seemed confused and awkward with her spoons. After he had eaten about half and then handed it back to his son, Harriet decided to introduce herself.

She put a hand to her chest and said "Harriet."

She then pointed to Natsu and said her name, did the same with Eito, then gestured towards the man.

He hesitated, then repeated her name, having less trouble than Natsu and Eito had but it was still awkward. Harriet smiled and shrugged.

"Hari," she said so he'd know it was okay.

Natsu said something to him rapidly, and he nodded seriously.

He then gave her a bow and said, "Hari," and then something else she didn't understand.

He looked regal, even sitting on the bed, in a way that she'd only seen from the Malfoys. She wondered who he was - if he was rich, and if he'd possibly help her make sense of where she was. Though she couldn't understand what he was saying, she knew by the way he bowed and the tone of his voice, and a gesture at his leg and the children, that he was thanking her.

She shook her head, leaned forward, and patted his hand. He looked a little startled but didn't protest.

"It's okay. It's kind of my job," she said with a smile.

He raised an eyebrow, before putting a graceful hand on his chest and saying, "Hayano Hibiki."

Harriet blinked. That was...a long name. Then she realized he had probably included his surname.

"Hayano?" she tried. He hesitated, then pointed to Natsu and Eito in turn. "Hayano Natsu. Hayano Eito."

Her eyes widened in understanding. She pointed to herself. "Potter Harriet. Or Hari, I guess."

Over the next few days, as Hibiki healed, Harriet and the children made a game out of learning words from each other's language. She had never been book smart like Hermione, but if there was one thing Harriet could do, it was learning things on the fly.

One day Hibiki came and sat next to her, a serious expression on his face. After about half an hour of miming and gesturing, Harriet realized that he wanted to go home - and he was asking her to go with them.

Harriet sat back, thinking. She'd continued to send out her Patronus every morning and every evening, much to the children's delight, but so far it had returned every day without success.

The truth was, there didn't seem to be any choice. Hibiki, Natsu, and Eito were the only friendly faces she'd seen since she arrived, and if she wasn't mistaken, Hibiki probably had enough power and influence to help her look for answers. Finally, she nodded her head and smiled at him.

"Alright, I'll go with you."

Two Years Later

Hayano Hari sat next to her adoptive father in seiza, attempting not to fidget, as they awaited the delegation from Fire Country. While she would always be thankful to Hibiki for giving her a home and family in this strange world, she could do without all of the posturing and politics involved with being part of the Hayano family.

The Daimyo of the country was closely tied to their shinobi village - something that Fruit Country was too small to have, and didn't really need with their natural defenses, believed to be set up by the Sage of Six Paths himself.

Hari hadn't interacted with any ninja since her first week in the Elemental Nations, and she was curious what they were like when they weren't trying to kill her. From what she'd learned from her private tutors, Konoha was considered fairly peaceful and tame for a ninja village, but they were still ninja.

It was a risk to let them into the country at all, but one that Hari had agreed was worth it after discussing it with Hibiki. The Fire Daimyo was young - his father having died by assassination the year before - but their advisors assured Hibiki that he was intelligent and shrewd, and not to be underestimated.

Finally, they arrived, and Hari had to keep herself from leaning forward to get a better view. He was handsome enough, with light brown hair that fell to his shoulders in soft waves and brown eyes. His red robes made him look powerful and majestic, and his wife, a soft, blonde woman in a white kimono next to him, only added to the image of power.

Hari looked past them to the team of ninja that followed. They moved like they were dangerous. It was a team of four, and she was a little surprised by how young they were, even knowing that they began their training around six or seven years old. They couldn't have been older than seventeen.

Hibiki rose to his feet as they approached and Hari followed, though less gracefully. He introduced himself and Hari, who bowed and tried to ignore their interested looks - it wasn't every day a foreigner was adopted by the leader of a country, even a small one.

Of course, tales of her 'heroic' rescue and strange bloodline limit had apparently been spread through the nations. Which was not exactly great news, but she'd been forced to use her magic a few times to protect from the numerous assassination attempts on herself and her family. Hence the first meeting with an outside country to discuss trade agreements in almost ninety years.

Hari swallowed the lump in her throat and turned her attention to the ninja, who had stepped forward.

"May I introduce my companions. Uzumaki Naruto," Hari's eyes widened as the blonde boy dressed in a black and orange jumpsuit with a white haori lined in flames beamed up at them.

They had sent a famous war hero, the boy who was rumored to be the next candidate for Konoha's Hokage. They were serious.

"Yamanaka Ino," a beautiful blonde with her pale hair pulled back into a long ponytail bowed politely, "Akimichi Chouji," Hari had to stop herself from gaping at the huge man in red armor with spirals on his cheeks, "and their squad leader, Nara Shikamaru."

The kid was handsome, with his hair pulled back in a spiky ponytail. With his slouched posture and sharp eyes, she thought he might be a bit of a heartbreaker.

They had really sent in the big guns on this one. Hari and Hibiki had spent the past month learning everything they could about the clans of Konoha, and while not from the four noble clans, these ninja were from three highly respected and trusted ones of Konoha. Also, everybody had heard of the famous Ino-Shika-Cho teams from the latest war.

Hari tried not to show her hope and surprise but knew it was probably useless to try and hide it from them. She bowed and said all the right things, but inside she was reeling - because this was happening. In a few months' time, she'd be married to a stranger, living in a new land. And that was the best case scenario.

Hari ended up seated to the right of Aiko, the wife of the Daimyo, at dinner, and after half an hour already wished she was far, far away. Her grasp on the language was good after only two years, but she knew her accent was still fairly strong, and some people tended to think she was stupid as a result.

Aiko was one of those people. She wasn't cruel about it, but the way she talked to her in a loud, slow voice and purposefully used small words was getting annoying. Hari was foreign, not an idiot.

"How do you enjoy Fruit Country?" Aiko asked in what was edging into a baby-talk voice.

Hari was probably the same age as her, for god's sake!

"Ah, it is full of fruit," she answered, deciding to just play along for amusement, and ignoring Hibiki's sharp look from a few seats down.

"I enjoy fruit very very much!" she chirped and reveled in the woman's doubtful look at her plate which held not one piece of fruit. Hari gave her ditziest grin and popped a piece of roasted duck into her mouth. "

See, so good!" she exclaimed.

She heard a soft snort behind her and glanced back at Shikamaru, who was standing at Aiko's shoulder. His gaze was sweeping the large dining hall, but she noticed his lips were quirked up. His eyes met hers for just a moment, and she had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing. Guess he wasn't fooled by her idiot act.

Finally, the torturous evening ended, and after a few bows and a promise to bring Natsu and Eito along to breakfast in the morning, she escaped. She had left her siblings in their warded room with the one other person she trusted outside her family to not try and assassinate them. The woman was getting too old to really handle them - she was over seventy, having been Hibiki's nanny when he was young, but she loved them and they loved her, so it was alright.

With a flick of her wrist, her wand disengaged from its holster and slipped into the palm of her hand. Motions hidden by her long-sleeved kimono, she chanted a few words in Latin before she felt the wards fall, and using her other hand, quietly knocked a rhythm on the door. It creaked open to reveal the tired, lined face of Taki, who gave her a kind smile and stepped back.

"Come in, child." she whispered. "The children are asleep, so keep it down."

Hari entered the room, her eyes zoning in on the two six-year-olds snoring in a tangle of limbs on the bed. She relaxed when she saw they were safe and accounted for.

"They were good for you?" she asked, and Taki laughed quietly.

"Yes, they behaved well, though as always Natsu was full of energy and Eito could not help but follow along."

Harriet let out an amused huff, and waved Taki off when she asked if she should stay.

The elderly woman left after a soft kiss to Hari's cheek, and Hari put the wards back up. She struggled through removing the kimono - she hated the things, but had promised to wear them at least through the talks - and finally collapsed on the bed on the other side of the room.

The last six months had been truly stressful. The constant vigilance and fear for the lives of her loved ones had weighed heavily on her. Without her magic, she knew that Eito and Natsu would be dead ten times over, not counting their initial meeting.

It was a sobering thought, and Hari was worried their luck would run out before the treaty was signed. It was on that cheerful note that she fell asleep.

The next morning Hari and Taki helped the two disgruntled twins into their formal kimono.

"I don't wanna wear it," Natsu said with a pout and a stomp of her foot.

"Well, if you don't want to meet the Konoha shinobi, I suppose you don't have to..." Hari said with a sigh.

Eito rolled his eyes and Natsu shook her head. "No! It's fine, I'll wear it!"

"You're so easy, I swear," Eito mumbled, as he silently and miserably let Taki put his hair into order.

Hari covered a smile with her hand.

They arrived just as the Fire Country contingent did. Natsu squealed, and would have run right up to an amused looking Chouji if Hari hadn't grabbed the back of her kimono.

"Manners," she hissed, before pasting a smile on her face and giving a small bow.

Natsu stopped struggling, and bowed past a pout, while Eito edged around her and gave a much more graceful bow.

"Allow me to introduce my brother and sister, Hayano Eito and Hayano Natsu."

"You must be so strong!" Natsu said to Chouji, eyes wide and cheeks a little red. "You're as big as a mountain!"

Everyone went still until a shocked looking Chouji threw back his head and laughed. Hari relaxed, and smiled at him in thanks.

Naruto, who had been whispering at a tired-looking Shikamaru, brightened and practically skipped to stand in front Natsu and Eito. He hunkered down and gave them a grin so wide that his eyes closed.

"Chouji is one of our strongest ninja, believe it!" he said. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto, it's nice to meet you."

Eito looked a little overwhelmed, and Natsu demanded that he show her 'cool ninja stuff.'

"Natsu!" Hari scolded. "Don't be rude! I'm terribly sorry, Uzumaki-san, Akimichi-san. I promise, we did teach her manners. She's just forgotten them."

The cheerful ninja waved that off.

"And call me Naruto!" Chouji also insisted to be called by his first name as they all entered the smaller dining area.

Hibiki was already seated, and they all went through the greeting process again. Hari tried not to show how annoying she found it all, but a knowing look from the Yamanaka girl told her she was probably failing in that endeavor.

This time, at a signal from Hibiki, Hari moved to the closed door.

"Allow my daughter to put up wards to ensure our safety. As I'm sure you have heard, there have been many attempts on my life and the lives of my children in the face of these talks. This way, we can all sit around the table and eat freely without fear."

Shikamaru sent her a suspicious look. "Wards?"

Hari's eyes darted to Hibiki, and at his nod, she explained what they were. "

So, nobody can get in that I haven't specifically keyed to them," she finished. "Though anybody can leave at any time."

"And this is something you can do with your bloodline limit?" Ino asked, pupil-less eyes steady on her.

Hari nodded and waited patiently as the four ninja seemed to communicate silently. Internally she rolled her eyes.

Why in the world would she want to lock herself into a room with four of the strongest people in the Elemental Nations? The answer: she wouldn't.

Finally, Naruto shrugged, and said, "I trust Hari-san! She seems like a really good person."

Shikamaru rolled his eyes but relaxed, and the others followed their lead. Hari slowly let her sleeve fall back so they could see her movements, and flicked her wand into her hand, ignoring the way the ninja tensed. She felt eyes on the back of her head as she chanted and circled the room, the faint glow and the click of her magic falling into place the only indication it had worked.

She holstered her wand and then walked to the table, taking the seat between Eito and Shikamaru and reaching for the rice. After a few moments, Shikamaru's lazy drawl broke into her focus on her omelet.

"That...stick. You use that to activate your bloodline limit?"

She gave him a surprised look. Usually, she had to explain that part.

"In a way," she said slowly. "It's more a way to...focus it. I can do some things without it, but the more complex stuff..." she didn't really like to talk about it too much, in case people decided all they needed to do to incapacitate her was to take her wand.

She and Hibiki, however, had already decided they'd need to be upfront with their potential allies for their plan to work. Of course, the elder wand, always strapped to her thigh, was also a good backup.

It tended to show up no matter how many times she tossed it. Not even being sent to a different world would stop it following her. Shikamaru pulled her into a discussion on her 'bloodline limit,' and the other ninja shamelessly listened in while the daimyos discussed the schedule for the next week.

"What else can you do?" he asked, looking completely uninterested in the answer.

Her lips twitched. "Would you like to see some things?" she asked in a sweet voice, and Natsu perked up from her seat next to her brother.

"Oh! Aneki's magic is the coolest!" she gushed.

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow at the word magic, and Hari shrugged.

"It's what my family called our bloodline limit," she explained.

At the urging of her brother and sister, Hari wiped her mouth, then took out her wand. Shikamaru tensed, and she hesitated.

"We don't have to do this here..."

She met his gaze, and the younger man studied her for a moment before relaxing.

"Maa, it's fine. Let's see what you can do."

He looked like he wasn't expecting much, and her eyes narrowed. Sure, she wasn't a superhuman who could move faster than a bullet or shoot fire from her mouth, but she wasn't completely without power.

With more of a flourish than perhaps was warranted, she pointed her wand at the bowl of rice.

"Wingardium Leviosa," she said and the table went silent as the rice bowl began to float.

She shot a surprised looking Shikamaru a smug smile before lowering it. She then proceeded to turn her teacup into a mouse, and changed the colors of the napkins and tablecloth to Gryffindor red and gold.

"Well. That's useful," Shikamaru said, and Hari grinned at him when she saw he no longer looked bored.

000

After breakfast, Ino and Chouji accompanied Hari, Natsu, and Aiko around the palace as Hari led them on a tour. Ino was chatting with Aiko about the latest fashion trends in Fire Country, and the children had somehow ended up riding on the shoulders of the large, kind-hearted Akimichi.

They were in the gardens when the enemy shinobi struck.

"Incoming - four, high level," Ino called, and Chouji and Ino went into defensive positions around them.

Hari had gone into a ready stance with her wand out, and her eyes widened when four black figures appeared and surrounded them.

"Missing nin," Ino murmured. "We could really use Naruto and Shikamaru..."

"I can get them a message," Hari said. "But it'll be obvious."

"Do it," Ino said in a sharp voice, right as the enemy moved.

Over the sounds of metal hitting metal, Hari drew her best memories to herself, and conjured her patronus.

The stag appeared before her, and the enemy nin faltered.

"Go, get Naruto and Shikamaru and lead them here. We are under attack."

Then she turned all of her attention to keeping her little group alive.

Shikamaru jolted out of his seat as the glowing deer burst through the wall in the small meeting room. In tandem, he and Naruto shunshined to stand between it and their two charges. Shikamaru's shadows passed right through it, as did Naruto's kunai.

"It's fine!" Hibiki yelled from behind them just as Hari's heavily accented voice came from the glowing animal.

"We are under attack."

It then turned on its heel and dove back through the wall. Hibiki was already darting around them towards the door, but Shikamaru didn't live through a war by accident. He was there first, making sure there were no enemy, before allowing the two men out of the room.

He had to admit, they were handling themselves well for civilians.

"Naruto, you take point," he said, and his friend immediately leapt in front as Shikamaru took the rear.

He didn't allow himself to think about the fact that they were following an apparition as they darted down the halls and into a garden - he'd moan about how weird this assignment was later. When they reached the courtyard, it was to the sight of pure destruction.

Ino and Chouji were struggling against three opponents, another one lying dead or unconscious on the ground, their charges huddled in the middle. Hari was darting around the two children and the Daimyo's wife, sending streams of light that the enemy ninja dodged fairly easily, and creating some sort of shield to stop any projectiles from making it through.

While she didn't have the strength and speed of a shinobi, the woman was obviously trained for combat. Her movements were sure, and her hands were steady as she sent a stream of fire at a black-clad figure that was trying to flank Ino, forcing him to jump back.

Then Naruto was in the fray while Shikamaru stood in front of the two Daimyo, creating a circle of shadows around them. Within seconds of Naruto joining, it was done. He breathed out a sigh of relief, but it was short-lived as the little girl let out a shrill scream.

"Eito!" Hari said, voice anguished as she dropped to her knees next to the little boy, whose face was deathly pale.

A kunai had made it past Hari, and was now embedded into his side, a red stain spreading from it onto his little green kimono.

"Aneki?" he said in a small voice, and Hari sobbed as she began to wave her wand over the area.

Ino flashed to their side, gently pushing her way in, Naruto a concerned shadow beside her.

"It's okay, I'm a medic," Shikamaru's teammate said in that calm assured voice she only used on the battlefield and while healing.

To Hari's credit, she moved to the other side of Eito, and took his hand. Hibiki joined her, his shaking hands moving to pet the hair from his son's forehead. The Fire Daimyo looked grim, and his wife was silently crying next to him, her hand over her mouth.

"It's okay, my son," Hibiki said when Eito whimpered with pain. "Konoha is known for their amazing medics. Be a good boy, yes, I know it hurts, but you must hold still..."

Shikamaru pursed his lips, then signalled to Chouji to help him secure the area. Naruto indicated with a sign that he would guard Ino's back while she worked, and the little family barely flinched as he created three more shadow clones to act as sentries.

Their intelligence had indicated that the situation in Fruit Country was dire, but he hadn't expected such a blatant attempt while his team and Naruto were present. The rebels were either stupid or desperate. Shikamaru was willing to bet it was the latter.

000

The next morning they met in the personal apartments of the Hayano family, agreeing that after yesterday they should stay behind wards, with all of their protection in one place. Ino looked tired, but satisfied - Eito would recover just fine, and was sleeping with his twin in the other room, who had refused to leave his side.

It was a grim-looking Hibiki who joined them for breakfast, Hari following him with a determined expression on her face.

"I'd like to apologize for the attack on your wife," Hibiki started with, looking over at Isao, the Fire Daimyo. "I truly did not believe they would try anything, but it seems that they have gotten bolder. Is she recovered from the shock?"

Isao studied him for a moment before giving a small nod.

"She is. Aiko looks delicate, but she is actually quite resilient. She was glad to hear that the child will live."

Hibiki let out a breath. "As are we all."

"I think," Shikamaru drawled from his seat, "that we should probably skip the pleasantries and get right to why we're here, and why exactly people are so keen to kill you."

Hibiki looked down at his hands. "Yes. I suppose we should. Fruit Country is in the midst of a silent, secret civil war."

There was barely a twitch from the ninja, though Isao frowned.

"My brother, Hisoka, feels that I am not the right person to rule Fruit Country any longer, mostly due to my insistence that I begin to slowly open our borders to other countries."

"Let me guess, he thinks he is the 'right person' for the job?" Ino asked, looking unimpressed, and Hibiki gave a small nod.

"It makes sense for us to open our borders - our culture is stagnating, falling behind in medical, cultural, and technological advances.

"As you know, three years ago two percent of our population was wiped out by a disease that would have been easily prevented in other countries. Our lush vegetation and huge amounts of livestock, plus our ability to create large amounts of silk, makes us self sufficient, and also an attractive ally for other large countries.

"Still, the founders had decided on an isolationist policy from the very beginning, wanting nothing to do with the shinobi wars, and despite the signs now pointing to a long-lasting peace for our world, there is a faction that is vehemently opposed to opening our borders." Hibiki went paused to let that sink in.

"What this faction will not accept is that there is also another reason to start making allies. The power that protects us from the outside world is fading. I doubt it will last for another five years."

There were a few shocked gasps at that. The reason Fruit Country had never been invaded was due to the land itself - it reacted with lethal force to unwanted invaders. Many believed they were gifted this land and its protections from the Sage of Six Paths himself.

It was also tied to the blood of the Hayano clan - only they could give permission to enter. Hisoka had been using that to let hired missing-nin in for assassination attempts.

"My brother will discover this when the land passes to him, and so he should accept any contracts I create with outside countries to ensure our protection." Hibiki finished.

"When?" Shikamaru asked suspiciously. "Won't the land pass on to your children? You're the main line, correct?"

Hibiki frowned and looked away. "You see the situation as it is. Even with Hari's unique abilities, we will not be able to keep the rebel faction from killing my family."

"So you're just giving up?" Naruto asked, distressed, and Hibiki shook his head with a small smile.

"No, of course not. I decided long ago that my children's lives were more important than who holds power over the land. And while my brother may be be determined to see me and my children die, he is also determined to see our people live.

"He will not make a bad ruler, I think. So Hari and I came up with a plan that will hopefully benefit both Fruit and Fire Country, and keep my children alive."

"And what about you?" Shikamaru asked, having a feeling he already knew the answer when Hari's fists clenched and she blinked rapidly down at the table.

"I expect to be dead within six months," Hibiki said in a calm voice.

"What?" Isao said. "Surely there must be a way..."

But Hibiki was shaking his head.

"I am ill," he said. "I don't believe I will live longer than a few months."

There was stunned silence around the table, and then Ino was demanding to have a look.

Thirty minutes later, Ino confirmed what he had said.

"It's too far along," she had said in a pained voice. "I'm sorry but...there's nothing I can do."

Hibiki looked almost amused. "It is okay, child," he said. "I have accepted this." Hari made a small, pained noise, but didn't comment.

"Will you let me explain my proposal?" he asked.

At the nods around the table, he smiled. "I would like to make an exclusive trade agreement with Fire Country. In exchange, I would request a marriage between my oldest daughter, Hari, into one of your ninja clans, with the agreement that my other two children would be adopted into the family, as well."

Shikamaru blinked slowly, feeling a little off kilter, before the reasoning clicked.

"You know that our clans offer protection to their members. If Hari and the twins marry into one of the larger clans, any assassination attempts would be met with the force of the village behind them."

Shikamaru watched Hari as he said this, trying to measure her reaction. Most women weren't exactly excited to be traded into marriage, but all he saw on her face was resolve.

Hibiki made a noise of agreement.

"Yes, that is the idea. Once Eito and Natsu are adopted into the family, the land will automatically pass onto my brother. The land will recognize your people as allies, even after I am dead, unless you break your side of the pact.

Hisoka will not try to back out once he realizes the power of our blood is close to breaking. And if he does, you can simply invade Fruit Country and place my children back on the throne."

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow, his respect for the old man increasing. Just because he hadn't been a part of international politics before didn't mean he was ignorant to how the outside world worked.

Fruit Country had been a pleasant surprise. There weren't many outsiders who were allowed in, though enough moved in and out for stories of the bountiful land and happy people to make it into the world.

It did, indeed, have many things to offer the outside world, and Shikamaru couldn't blame them for being so isolationist. The shinobi world was a hard one. Now that they would be forced to rejoin society, it was only smart of them to start setting up some form of protection.

"Let us go discuss this amongst ourselves. We will return tomorrow morning, if that is acceptable to you," Isao said, and Hibiki nodded his head, a small smile on his lips.

The man already knew they'd say yes, after all.

000

The next few days were a whirlwind of drawing up contracts and trade agreements. Hari sat in on some of the talks, and spent most of her time with a subdued Eito and Natsu.

Hari would forever feel indebted to Ino, whom she had become friendly with after she healed Eito. Watching the blood spread across her brother's kimono had only made her more determined to go through with the marriage.

She wasn't surprised when Shikamaru sought her out one day while she sat half heartedly reading on the balcony. She was horribly bored, as they'd decided it would be best to stay inside the warded apartments, but was also unwilling to wander far from her family.

"Hey," he said, leaning against the wall.

She raised her eyebrows as he removed a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, but didn't comment on how he was a little young to be smoking. No matter how much she wanted to. After all, he'd probably been killing people since he was a preteen. Cigarettes were the least of the kid's problems.

"Hello," she said carefully.

If what she'd heard about his clan and his actions in the war was right, then he was smart - too smart to really bother trying to talk around.

"You don't seem too upset about being married off," he said bluntly, watching her reaction closely.

Hari's smile turned up a bit sadly at the corners, and she turned to look over the apple orchard that stretched out below the balcony.

"You know that I'm not from around here," she said, and he nodded. "My life has been full of hard choices, and I've...lost a lot of people. I'm okay with this marriage if it keeps my family safe." She looked down at her hands.

"Just say it," he said, and she smiled.

She liked him, and for some reason felt like she could probably trust him and his team. Which was probably stupid, she knew ninja were trained to lie and kill, but, there it was.

"I admit, I'm hoping for the best," she said in a small voice. "I'm hoping for a husband that I can...get along with, at the very least, and that respects me. I wouldn't mind starting a family of my own," she said almost wistfully, watching as a breeze moved through the leaves of the trees.

He hummed in thought.

"Well, the Hokage is putting together a list of men from the different clans that are willing to enter into the marriage. It'll probably be long, with the dowry your father is offering," he said in a wry voice.

"A list?" Hari asked, looked over at him in shock.

"Aa, so you can choose someone." he affirmed.

"Oh...I kind of thought I'd just get who'd I'd get, you know," she said nervously.

How was she supposed to just choose somebody from a list?

Shikamaru shrugged, then joined her on the deck, flopping down on a chaise and staring up into the cloudless sky.

"Well, do you have any questions about the clans?"

"You're...willing to give me information?" she asked tentatively.

Hari had been under the impression that ninja were kind of stingy with information like that.

"Hmmm, how about a trade," he said, and she rolled her eyes at him.

"What kind of trade?" she asked in an amused voice.

"You tell me something about where you're from, I'll tell you something about where I'm from,"

Though Shikamaru sounded like he couldn't care one way or another Hari knew he'd likely planned the whole thing out.

"Alright. What would you like to know?"

It wasn't her problem if he didn't believe her, after all.

"Where is this place?" he immediately asked, and she snorted.

Let's start with the hardest part.

"I'm not sure, exactly. I think...well, there was an accident, and I think I was transported here from another world, or something."

He looked disbelieving, and she grimaced and shrugged.

"There weren't ninja and I'm pretty sure there was no chakra. What I have, we called magic, and only a very small and hidden part of the population had it."

He continued to prod, and she told him a bit about muggle England, and the hidden magical population within. Finally, she turned the questioning back to him.

"Are all the Nara like you?" she asked in a curious voice, and he turned his face towards her, eyes half closed and unbothered by their discussion of other worlds.

"Like me how?"

"You know, really smart but...what's the word..." Hari said, struggling.

"Lazy?" he asked, amused.

She huffed, trying to grasp for the equivalent of the word she meant in the language spoken by those in the Elemental Nations.

"No. Like...relaxed? Um, but not physically...I mean you're that too..."

"Laid back?"

"Yes! That," she said.

Shikamaru shrugged. "In general, yes."

"But you're a genius among geniuses, right? The famous Nara Shikamaru," she said, and laughed when he flicked a cigarette butt at her.

"My dad's smarter," he said after a moment. "He still beats me every time at shogi, and always has the right advice for me."

Hari eyed him. "You sound like you have a lot of respect for him."

His lip curled up into what she thought was his version of a fond smile, and he sighed.

"Yeah, I guess you could say...I aspire to be like him."

"And your mom?" Hari wished she hadn't asked when he tensed.

"Sorry," she murmured. "You don't have to answer."

"She died," he said shortly. "During an invasion when I was twelve."

Hari winced, but didn't offer any words of sympathy.

"Mine died when I was a baby. My dad, too." She didn't look over, though she knew he was studying her.

"They were murdered by the leader of a... rebel group, I guess."

"Who raised you?" he replied, and she couldn't help but appreciate the lack of reaction - instead they just continued on with their agreement.

"My mother's sister and her husband," Hari said shortly. "They hated me, because of my," she waved her hand in a swish and flick motion, and he grunted.

"Who taught you?" he asked, and Hari had to admit he knew the right questions to ask. Genius, indeed.

"When I turned eleven I was accepted into a school that taught people with my...bloodline limit," she admitted, then decided it was her turn.

"Which clans do you think my family and I will fit in well with in Konoha?" she asked.

He shrugged, looking thoughtful.

"That depends," he said slowly. "The Hyuuga are certainly powerful, and have many strong ninja. But they are weakened by internal politics, and aren't fond of outsiders, so I wouldn't recommend them."

Hari watched his face as he thought. "The Inuzuka are a good choice - once you're part of the family, they'll fight tooth and nail for you. They have less political clout, something you'll probably need on your side."

She hummed to show she was listening. "The Yuhi are a bit wary of outsiders, as well - not as bad as the Hyuuga, but..."

"What about one of your clans? I mean, the Yamanaka, Akimichi, or Nara?" she asked, glancing over at him. "I mean, you three seem like good people, and strong ninja, and you don't seem to hate us," she pointed out.

Shikamaru sighed. "Troublesome. If I tell you to pick somebody from my clan, people will think I unduly influenced you. Same with Ino and Chouji's clans - they're my teammates and the heirs. Since the Nara are so close to them..."

Hari sighed and waved her question away. "I get it, I get it. Well, tell me about them, then. Why are you so closely tied?"

He spent the next forty five minutes telling her stories about the Ino-Shika-Cho history, and she couldn't help but laugh at some of them.

"They sound lovely," she finally said, and meant it, even if the Yamanaka were a little terrifying with their mind reading techniques.

She shuddered as she remembered her occlumency lessons with Snape. So, avoid the Hyuuga, Yuhi, and Yamanaka. That narrowed it down a bit.

"You know how to fight," Shikamaru stated, but she knew it was a question.

"Yes. I was a police officer for people like me, or well, I was training to be one. I was still kind of a rookie," she said with a grin.

They spent the next half hour chatting, and Hari found herself feeling more relaxed with somebody outside her little family than she had in a long time.

Because she had no filter, she found herself blurting, "Will you be on the list?"

She then blushed a bright a red, because rude.

"You don't think I'm a little young for you?" he drawled after a long pause.

Hari sighed, and continued looking up at the sky.

"Well, it's true that I don't exactly feel that way for you, but...I at least know you, and like your company," she said softly.

He hummed. "Ino and Chouji won't be on the list, because they're...involved," he said, and Hari quirked up her lip.

She'd thought so, but couldn't be sure - they were very professional while working.

"And while I enjoy your company, I'm afraid you're not my type," he said, and Hari's eyes widened with realization.

"Ooooh," she said. After a few moments of thought, she smiled. "So, do you have some lucky guy waiting for you at home?"

He scoffed, but when she glanced over she noticed his cheeks had taken on a slightly red hue. With a gasp, Hari sat up, squealing and clapping her hands together.

"Oh my god, you do! Tell me all about him."

His eyes widened a fraction and he held up both his hands as if to ward her off.

"Keep it down," he hissed, eyes darting to the open doorway. "And it's true I...have feelings for someone," he grumbled, "but we aren't together."

He slouched down into what might be a pout, and Hari tilted her head.

"Why not? Is he just not interested, or..."

Shikamaru sighed, and looked up at the clouds again. "He is, I think, but with his family it's...complicated."

Hari thought that over for a moment, then laid back down.

"You mean they're controlling homophobes," she muttered, and he snorted.

"You have no idea," he said.

Eventually, Shikamaru had to go back inside. He gave her a simple wave and then wandered in to face a scolding Ino. Hari eventually followed and spent the rest of the afternoon playing quietly with Natsu, who was getting restless - never a good thing - and Eito, who was still banned from strenuous activity.

That evening, while Ino braided Natsu's hair and Chouji read a story to Eito while Shikamaru attempted to teach Hari Shogi, there was a poof of smoke, and a toad the size of a dog appeared in the middle of the family room. Hari's wand was out and pointed at it before conscious thought hit, but Naruto had already jumped to his feet in excitement.

"It's granny Tsunade's reply!" he crowed as the toad disgorged two large scrolls and six large folders from it's stomach.

"Gross," Natsu breathed in wonder, and Hari wrinkled her nose and put her wand away as Chouji explained summoning animals to the Hayano family.

Hibiki returned half an hour later, and sat down with Naruto and Shikamaru to read through the amended treaty the Godaime and her advisors had put together while Hari put the two protesting children to bed.

When she returned, Naruto was beaming, Ino and Chouji looked as relieved as Hibiki, and Shikamaru was in a half doze on the couch. "So you've agreed to the terms, father?" she asked, a terrified lump growing in her throat.

Naruto, ever oblivious, grinned.

"Yep! Now we just have to choose your future husband!"

Hari's vision swam for a moment. Oh god, she was getting married to a virtual stranger. Abstractly she'd been ready to commit to this for the safety of her siblings, but as a reality, it was terrifying. Vaguely, she was aware of somebody leading her to a couch and helping her sit down. A gentle hand pushed her head down between her knees then moved to her back, gently rubbing.

"Breath, my child," she heard Hibiki's voice say from her right. "You're okay, just take a deep breath for me."

She forced herself to comply, and after a short amount of time her vision returned to her and she was able to sit up.

Mortification ran through her when she saw the concerned gazes of four elite ninja and her father on her. Shikamaru had sat down on her other side, slouched in a relaxed posture but studying her with sharp eyes.

Ino handed her a glass of water, and she gratefully took a drink. Finally, she sighed.

"Sorry about that, I guess I just got a little nervous..."

"A little nervous?" Shikamaru said in a flat voice. "That was a full blown panic attack."

Hari glared and would have snapped, but she realized that he was actually concerned, so took a deep breath instead of replying. Naruto walked over to her and knelt so they were at eye level, blue eyes solemn.

"You don't have to do this," he said, ignoring Ino's noise of protest. "We can find another way keep your family safe, believe it!"

Hari breathed out, and her terror and uncertainty went with it. If Naruto was the future of Konoha, then she could put a little bit of her trust into them.

"No, I'm ready to do this. I was just a little overwhelmed for a minute," she said, letting that old determination settle over her. "This is the best way to tie our countries together, and to keep my family and country safe."

The blonde studied her with a shockingly shrewd gaze before nodding and smiling.

"Great! Don't worry, we'll help you choose somebody that will make you happy."

Hari gave a small laugh. "Well, then, let's get started."

The folders were a list of candidates and a preliminary marriage contract from six clans: The Hyuuga, Yuhi, Inuzuka, Yamanaka, Nara, and Aburame.

"No Akimichi?" Hari directed to Chouji, who shrugged good naturedly.

"We're not really big on arranged marriages," he explained and she nodded.

"Well, let's start with the Hyuuga, I suppose," Hari said, without explaining that she wanted to get the ones she knew she wouldn't choose out of the way.

She immediately handed the contract over to Hibiki, trusting him to ferret out the fine print and give her a rundown of things she needed to know.

There were two candidates - a Hyuuga Souta, age thirty one, and Hyuuga Neji, age eighteen. Both of their pictures proved the rumors true that the Hyuuga clan were gorgeous with their long dark hair and lavender, pupil-less eyes.

"Do you guys know Neji or Souta Hyuuga?" she muttered, and was surprised when Shikamaru straightened and his eyes went wide.

"Neji's in there?" he asked, and leaned over her.

She turned the file so he could see, and watched his face closely as it shuttered.

After a moment of confused thought, her own eyes widened, then narrowed.

She whipped her head to Naruto and snapped, "I thought I made it clear that I only wanted willing candidates!"

The young man reared back in surprise. "W-what? They are! We made sure granny Tsunade knew..."

Ino snorted. "Please, like a branch member of the Hyuuga actually has any free will."

"Ino," Shikamaru said in a low warning voice Hari had never heard from him before, and the girl huffed and crossed her arms but didn't continue.

"I am curious about this branch family, and what exactly the seal is that they expect any children that would come from this potential union to wear." Hibiki said, gesturing to the contract.

There was silence, before Naruto gave a nervous laugh. "Well, it's something I plan to change when I'm Hokage, but..."

"It's a seal that was created to keep the Hyuuga eyes from enemy hands," Shikamaru said in a bored voice, though his hands were clenched into fists. "It's also used as a way to control branch members."

Hari stood, and threw the papers down. "Is this what I can expect from the protection of your village?" she hissed. "Will Natsu and Eito be in danger of being sealed and forced into an unwanted marriage once they're adopted into a clan?"

Naruto winced, and lifted his hands. "Hari, calm down, your hair is sparking."

Furious, hands shaking, she ignored the comment about her hair - nobody here needed to know it was an embarrassing sign of uncontrolled magic.

"This is slavery !" she exploded.

"I know that!" Naruto yelled, and to her surprise, his eyes were filled with conviction. "That's why I said I was going to change it."

"It's because of the laws that were written when Konoha was formed," Shikamaru said. "The clans were supposed to be able to govern themselves within the confines of Konoha law. It's difficult to reverse, but Naruto, along with the future head of the clan are determined to change the laws within this generation. So sit down already, you're giving me a headache."

Hari stared at him and realized that he was just as furious as she was.

"Well. If you need any help," she said, and sat down. "For now, we'll just give a solid no to anybody from the Hyuuga clan."

They moved on to the Yuhi, but Hibiki shook his head no after reading the first few pages of the contract. Not wanting to lose her temper again, Hari just nodded. The Yamanaka candidate was a handsome thirty four year old man with blonde hair cut short and eyes just like Ino's.

"Cousin Ido! He's very sweet, Hari, I think you'd like him."

Her eyes darted to Hibiki, who gave a small nod.

"Their contract is satisfactory. While he wishes for children, there is no demand. You would still have your freedom within the confines of clan rules and regulations, which we can go over if you think he might be a candidate."

Hari nibbled her lip nervously. On paper it looked okay, but...

"The mind reading techniques make her uncomfortable," Shikamaru said bluntly, and Hari winced and sent an apologetic look at Ino, who just shrugged.

"A lot of people feel that way," she said, and gave a small smile. "Though I assure you we don't do it to allies without their permission."

"Um," Naruto said, and they turned to look at him. He seemed uncharacteristically nervous.

"Granny Tsunade actually told me to ask you if you'd be willing to undergo a mind walk with Ino."

Hari froze, and her hands went shaky and damp.

"No," she said flatly.

Hibiki studied their uncomfortable-looking guests.

"May I ask the consequences of her refusing?"

"She'll need to spend a week with Torture and Interrogation being interrogated the old-fashioned way," Ino said bluntly. "It's standard procedure for foreigners marrying in if they don't consent to the mind walk. And even then, you'll probably always be regarded with a level of...suspicion."

"They'll wonder what I'm hiding," Hari said softly. "And as a result, they'll wonder what Natsu and Eito are hiding."

Nobody answered, and she closed her eyes, before reaching for that courage she was so famed for, and opening them again.

"I'm not hiding anything. I've just been...on the receiving end of something similar, and it was not good. Okay, do it."

Ino jolted in surprise. "What, now?" she asked, incredulous.

"Yes. I'm not...I'll just brood on it if we don't get it over with. Please."

Ino studied her for a moment before sighing and giving a small nod.

"Fine, let's do this."

000

Hari lay on her bed, staring at the ceiling. In truth, the mind walk itself hadn't been that bad, but it had brought back...memories. Ino had been gentle, and as requested hadn't shown Hari what she was viewing. She didn't want to relive her life, she was just now starting to move past everything she had lost.

With a sigh, she gave up on sleep and padded out to the living room, where Chouji was standing by the door on watch. She gave him a small wave and he nodded back as she turned on a lamp and went back to the files.

A bit regretfully, she set aside the Yamanaka file - she just couldn't stomach being surrounded by what were essentially mind readers day in and day out, no matter how good hearted they seemed.

She picked up the Inuzuka file, and after reading through the contract without seeing any red flags, looked at their two candidates. One was the son of the current clan head, Inuzuka Kiba. She wrinkled her nose when she saw he was seven years her junior, and set him aside. Hari would already be fumbling through this, she should probably choose somebody who had some experience. The second candidate was a man named Hisao, and she couldn't help but be intrigued by the marks on his face and sharp teeth. He was twenty nine and a chunin.

Hari hummed and added him to the 'maybe' pile. The Aburame contract made her wrinkle her nose when she got to the part about how many children would be 'required' if medically possible within the first five years. Apparently, they were offering up one of their elite ninja, and if she was unable to provide him with heirs the contract stipulated that the marriage would end. Not exactly the loving family she had hoped to marry into.

Well, unless the Naras offered something interesting up, it looked like her choices were still slim. Her thoughts were interrupted by a cup of tea being placed by her elbow. She looked up to see Ino standing next to her, looking unsure of her welcome. Hari gave a small smile and motioned for her to sit.

"I'm sorry," Ino blurted, and Hari blinked at her in surprise. "I saw in your memories why you're uncomfortable having somebody in your mind, but you were placed in a position where you felt like you had to allow me in, anyway. I'm afraid between that and the Hyuuga contract, you probably don't have a great opinion on Konoha right now."

The other woman looked so distressed that Hari sighed, then reached out and touched her hand.

"I've found," she said slowly, once Ino's eyes were on hers, "that every society has good and bad. While it's true that I've seen some of the bad today, you and your teammates have already shown me the good. I don't believe Konoha could be such a bad place if it created people like you."

She gave her a half smile, which Ino hesitantly returned.

"Whoever you pick, you'll have our support and protection. Naruto likes you, and he tends to get possessive over his friends," Ino said. "And Ino-Shika-Cho is unbeatable as a team!" she finished with a short nod. "We'll protect you, too - from outside forces and your husband if he turns out to be a jerk."

Hari laughed, and rolled her eyes. "Do you know Inuzuka Hisao?" she asked and handed his profile to Ino, who hummed.

"Not personally, no. But if he's anything like Kiba he's loud, brash, brave, and loyal to a fault."

So a gryffindor, Hari thought to herself with an amused huff. "Their clan seems very open and free spirited. I wonder why any of them would be interested in an arranged marriage?"

Ino raised her eyebrow. "Well, like I said, they're loyal. If it would help the clan, they'd at least think about it. Also, I'm guessing there's a lot of boys out there clamoring for a chance to marry a princess," she said with a small laugh. "I read Naruto's report, and I think he said the words 'very pretty' at least four times."

Hari gaped at her, then looked down at her plain yukata. "Um. If they're expecting a sweet princess..."

Ino laughed again. "Nah, maybe the Hyuuga or Yuhi clans, but not any of the others. We're shinobi, after all. Though to be honest, you are pretty laid back compared to most shinobi brides. Quiet, you know."

Hari nodded. She had always been the quiet sort until she got to know somebody or was provoked into anger. Some people thought that it made her weak willed, but they usually found out the hard way that she wasn't easy to push around.

She picked up the last folder - Nara. She flipped it open and read through the contract, eyebrows raised.

"This is pretty cut and dried," she commented, then handed it over to Ino.

"Yeah, the Nara aren't exactly controlling. I know Shikamaru's mom chose to retire when she had him, but I doubt it was required in her contract," she said absently.

There was only one candidate from the clan. His picture showed a stern, good looking man that resembled Shikamaru so closely that they had to be closely related. Cousins, maybe? He had two scars running down his face and a small goatee.

"Nara Shikaku," she mumbled, and Ino started next to her in shock.

"What?" she squawked, and tore the paper from Hari's hands who looked at her in astonishment.

"This is Shika's dad!" Ino squeaked, and Hari's eyes widened.

"What?" she parroted, and looked over Ino's shoulder.

He was thirty seven, which meant he was pretty young when he had Shikamaru. That was fifteen years older than Hari herself.

"Why would he..."

"Oh my god, Shikamaru's dad is a total perv!" Ino crowed in delight, then slapped a hand over her mouth as if she had just remembered who she was with.

Hari burst into laughter, and Ino lowered her hand sheepishly.

"Er...that is..." the girl said as Hari bent over, tears on her cheeks.

"What's going on?" Shikamaru's voice asked from the doorway. "I heard my name..."

Hari, who had been starting to get ahold of herself, took one look at Ino's face and dissolved into mirth again. She shook her head and waved her hand at him. Finally, she calmed herself down, wiping at the tears on her cheeks.

"It's nothing," she said. "Tea?"

He gave them a suspicious look, then shrugged and made his way to the table, where he poured himself a cup and slumped down, eyes half lidded.

"So, Shika," Ino said in a sly voice as he raised his cup to take a drink. "You didn't tell me your dad was interested in marriage," and lifted the page with Shikaku's face on it to wave in front of him.

Shikamaru spewed tea all over the paperwork.

Later, when everybody was up and eating breakfast, Naruto brought up the subject. "So, Hari, have you narrowed it down at all?" he asked.

She hummed, and set down her chopsticks. "Actually, I was hoping to get your opinion on a few of the candidates."

She held out the Inuzuka and Nara contracts to her father, who took them and began to read, and handed Shikaku and Hisao's profiles to Chouji. Hisao was on top, and the large man tipped his head in contemplation.

"I did a mission with him once. He was a good tracker," he said, then hesitated.

"But?" Hari asked.

"Keep in mind this was a few years ago. He was a little...immature," he said with a shrug. "He's probably grown out of it by now."

Hari nodded thoughtfully, thinking back to the reason Ino had given her for why some of the younger men might be interested in her, and her stomach clenched. Chouji passed the paper onto Naruto to his left, then made a choking noise when he saw the next one.

"Nara Shikaku?" he said in a faint voice.

"What?! Really?" Naruto said, and plucked it out of his hands. "Hey, he's really strong and smart!"

Shikamaru, over his shock from earlier, just leaned back and looked bored.

"Do you have any idea why he would be interested?" Hari asked, and he shrugged.

"I think the council was bugging him about remarrying, once I made it clear I wouldn't be procreating."

"So...he wants more heirs?" Hari asked.

Shikamaru hesitated, and his eyes moved to the rest of the group.

"Oh for goodness sake, it's not like it's a secret with us," Ino sniped. "It's not just that - the wife of the clan head is an important position.

"Since Shikaku-san is jounin commander and advisor to the Hokage, he doesn't have a lot of time to deal with the day-to-day of running a clan. I'm guessing he thinks that the daughter of a Daimyo would be a good choice. Also, I think he's a little lonely," she said bluntly, and Shikamaru sighed, which Hari took to mean he agreed.

Hari hummed, and tapped her fingers on the tablecloth.

"And the clans...which do you think my children would be more comfortable and safe in?" Hibiki, who had been silent up until then, asked.

Shikamaru looked away, not willing to get into the discussion. Surprisingly, it was Chouji who answered.

"The Inuzuka are physically strong, and their tracking and fighting skills make them an important asset to Konoha. They're easily provoked into anger and action, but won't really stay focused on it for long.

"They hate politics, which could be both good and bad for you. Good, because as the princess of Fruit Country you'll probably already be knee deep in politics. Bad, because they won't be able to support you much in that arena."

"The Nara are the opposite. They're strong, yes, but laid back. They won't be easily provoked, but when they are, they won't forget or hold back. They're smart enough to run circles around people in the political arena when they feel like they need to," he finished.

Hari bit her lip. "The intelligence thing...I'm not exactly stupid, but nobody would ever call me a genius, either. I was always more of the...what's the word...strength? No..."

"Brawn?" Shikamaru offered, and Hari nodded. "Right, I was always more of the brawn of our friends."

Ino snorted, and everyone looked at her.

"Please. I saw your memories, remember? You were the leader of a resistance! You might not be book smart, or a strategic genius, but you're no idiot."

Hari blushed, and Hibiki gave her an interested look. Obviously, Ino had already shared what she learned from Hari's memories with the others, because they didn't look shocked.

"Well, anyway," she mumbled. "I'm just wondering if the Nara clan would see me as some sort of idiot. There's no way I'd be useful as a...clan head's wife if nobody respected me."

"The Nara are too smart to dismiss you because you don't hold the same strengths as they do," Ino said in a firm voice. "You think Ino-Shika-Cho would work if they did? Besides, I wrote up an evaluation of you and sent it with Naruto's frog -"

"They're toads!" he protested, but she ignored him and kept talking,

"-and if Shikaku-san reads it and thinks you won't make a good wife, he'll rescind his offer."

"And the Inuzuka? Would they get along with me?" Hari asked, and Naruto snorted.

"Like a house on fire!" He said. "It they're all like Kiba, they'll think you're awesome."

Hari nodded and leaned back in her chair. "I'd like to take some time to think about it, if that's alright?"

"Of course," Shikamaru said. "Tsunade has sent a team to come and collect the Daimyo tomorrow morning. We decided it wouldn't be safe for him to travel with you, since you're being targeted," he said bluntly. "We'll be your escorts to Konoha."

Hari found Shikamaru on the balcony later that day. She nervously stopped in the doorway before taking a deep breath and moving to sit next to him.

"You've decided," he said.

"I...think so, yes. Though I wanted to talk to you about it first," she admitted.

"I don't mind if you marry my dad," he said with a shrug. "You're less troublesome than most women."

That surprised a laugh out of Hari.

"I guess you even know why I chose him," she said, turning her face into the breeze, which smelled sweet from the ripe fruit growing on the trees.

"Aa. Marrying into the Nara clan gives you purpose. Also, I doubt you want someone to marry you because they envision a sweet, beautiful princess gracing their bed at night."

"You missed the most important reason," she said easily, and her mouth ticked up when he tilted his head towards her in interest.

"I respect you. You're a good person, and you think your dad is pretty great, so..."

She was amused when his cheeks turned a little pink again.

"Also," she said airily, "Your dad is a very good looking man. I mean, those cheek bones -" Shikamaru moaned and slapped a hand over her laughing mouth.

"No, stop, you're killing me," he said.

When he lowered his hand, she chewed on her lip.

"You remember what I told you? About hoping this marriage could be good?" He hummed in agreement. "Do you think...that's something he'll want, too? I know I'm a lot younger than him..."

Shikamaru shrugged one shoulder. "I can't really speak for him, but...Ino was right. He has been lonely. And he and mom...they were never really close. Theirs was an arranged marriage, and she wasn't interested in making it...more. She was my mom, and I loved her, but..."

Hari nodded. "I get it. If it weren't for Natsu and Eito, I'd probably be pretty angry under the same circumstances," she admitted.

"I think they'll like it," Shikamaru said. "The twins...they'll like the Nara compound. There's a large forest available only to clan members, with a herd of practically domesticated deer. There's a lot of space, and the clan is pretty calm and doesn't stand too much on ceremony."

"And you?" she asked. "Will you be happy with some additional family members?"

Hari looked down at her fingers, folded into her lap.

He sighed. "Troublesome girl. As long as you don't make me call you step mother, it's fine. I like you okay."

Her lips turned up at the corner, even as his voice went stern. "Just be good to my dad," he said.

And that was that.

The next day, Neji's team arrived. He was a solemn, beautiful boy, and Hari almost laughed at the way he and Shikamaru interacted. Shikamaru was sweet, in his own lazy way, offering the other boy half of his peeled apple at lunch and giving him a tour of the grounds. Neji lost some of his stiffness around the Nara, and even blushed a bit at the offered fruit.

The moment Hari got close, however, he stiffened into formal politeness, and it took her about an hour to realize that what she saw in his face was terror. Finally, she wasn't able to take it anymore.

"Listen, you don't need to worry so much. I didn't pick you," she said bluntly when he actually flinched when she brushed by him.

Hibiki sputtered, and Isao raised one eyebrow.

"What? It's not like we can't all tell he was forced into offering," she muttered.

Ino burst out laughing, but Hari was relieved when Neji seemed to relax. Poor guy, she knew what it was like to have your whole life held in the palm of someone else's hand.

A week later, they were packing things into a trunk and trying to distract the distraught family with stories of the Nara clan - Shikaku in particular, since Eito seemed to want all the information he could get on the man.

Hari's stomach was churning as story after story of the man's accomplishments and exploits came out. How was she supposed to compare with a man who was said to be almost kage-level powerful? Iwa nin still shuddered at the mention of his name, even after he led their joint armies to victory. He was going to laugh at her. He expected some princess and instead, he was going to get a tiny, uncouth...

"I remember the time that elderly woman dumped a jar of preserves over his head when he was too lazy to carry her bags home," Chouji broke in, and Hari blinked at him.

"There he was, standing in the street with strawberry preserves dripping down his cheek, looking totally cowed as this tiny wrinkled woman took him to task," he said. "I think he still helps her carry her bags every week to this day."

Natsu and Eito broke into giggles, and Hari's shoulders, which had tensed, relaxed, and she found herself smiling in thanks at the large man as Ino scolded him.

"You're totally ruining his dignity, and they haven't even met!" she wailed.

"What dignity?" Shikamaru drawled, seeming to catch on. "Dad totally loses his cool when angry women or crying children are involved. Once I came home and he was being bossed around by my cousins as he huddled in a tiny pillow fort. He looked absolutely miserable, but he kept roaring like a dragon whenever prompted. Every time he almost fell asleep they'd poke him with a broom handle."

This time Hari did laugh, mostly out of relief. Maybe he was human after all.

000

Two Weeks Later

Nara Shikaku didn't do nervous. Anybody who saw the man leaning nonchalantly against the inside of the gates would guess that he was, at the most, a little apprehensive.

Naruto's messenger toad had informed Tsunade that his bride - his bride, gods - would finally be arriving this afternoon. All the little twerp had said for an explanation on why they were five days late was that they had "run into some trouble, some explosions and stuff happened or something..."

Shikaku was going to kill that stupid frog one day. Next to him, Kakashi was slumped against the wall, reading his ever-present book. Though he wouldn't say it and didn't look it Shikaku knew he was just as concerned about Naruto's late arrival as Shikaku was with Shikamaru's. They might not be related by blood, but Kakashi's team was his family.

Finally, Kakashi cocked his head to the right, and Shikaku glanced at him.

"Hear something?"

"Aa. A wagon. And one knucklehead ninja telling a much-abbreviated and not altogether correct version of Konoha's history."

Kakashi straightened to a stand, and strolled over to wait by the missions desk. Shikaku decided to stay where he was, slightly hidden by shadow, and observe.

To say he was surprised that Hayano Hari had chosen him out of all the candidates would be an understatement. Though at some level he could understand - if they were after protection, they could do a lot worse than living with the jounin commander and head of the Nara clan.

Ten minutes later a large wagon entered the gates, his son and Chouji walking beside it and looking worse for wear. Sitting in the wagon was an excited Naruto, an exhausted Ino, two dark-haired children dressed in dirty but high quality yukata, and a young woman.

Shikaku jerked a little when he saw just how young she was, but didn't react otherwise. Her black hair was pulled back into a braid that ended between her shoulder blades, though half of it had come out on one side. She was dressed in what looked like brown leather pants and a matching jacket.

Not exactly princess clothing, but Ino's report had indicated that she wasn't the normal sort of daughter of a Daimyo. In fact, it sounded like she had been part of some sort of war when she was younger, before she became displaced. And wasn't the news that she was from a whole other dimension shocking?

The two children were staring around them wide eyed, asking rapid-fire questions about the village that Naruto was happily answering. Shikaku frowned when he saw the way the princess stood, stiffly, with her arm bent and held close to her side as if she were injured.

He barely had time to wonder why Ino hadn't healed her when he saw Chouji jump into the wagon, which creaked with his weight, and help the girl to her feet. She swayed a little, but waved off his concern.

His eyes narrowed as Hari hurried down the steps first and nobody moved to help her, then turned and offered her hand to Ino, who took it gratefully. Chouji kept a large hand on Ino's waist to keep her from losing her balance. They were treating Hari more like a comrade than a princess. Interesting, and a little annoying.

The three had a short conversation, and Hari shook her head and waved them off, ignoring Ino's scolding as she turned to join Naruto where he was talking to Kakashi and the desk nin. Chouji tugged a protesting Ino off to the direction of the hospital, and Shikaku straightened and headed closer to where the group was conversing so he could hear them.

"...Looks like you ran into some trouble," the chunin at the gate said in an amused voice.

"Yeah! We were attacked four times on our way here!" the little girl said excitedly, and Kakashi made an interested noise.

"Onee-san said that it's because the Uzumaki and Potter luck combined to make our luck epically horrible!"

"Potteru?" Kakashi asked as Hari gave a pleasant, breathy laugh.

The girl turned to look at Kakashi, and Shikaku saw from her profile that her eyes were a bright, vibrant green.

"That was my surname before I was adopted into the Hayano clan," she said easily.

"In my original language, my name was Harriet Lily Potter," Shikaku blinked at the strange name as she continued, "but when I was adopted I legally became Hayano Hari.

"Pleased to meet you Kakashi-sensei, I've heard so much about you!"

She gave a bright smile, no less beautiful for the small amount of blood on her teeth - probably from the crack in her lip, and Kakashi swayed back on his feet a little.

"Maa, maa, my cute little students are too kind when they talk about me," he said, and Shikaku saw that he was blushing from what little of his face was showing.

He slumped a bit as he realized how much attention the princess was likely to garner from the opposite sex. So troublesome.

"What's this trouble, hmm? And while I don't doubt some of it was Naruto's fault -" "Hey!" "-I am surprised that he managed to find problems of his own on this trip."

"Well, first we were attacked by the ninja hired by my uncle," Hari said as if attempts on her life were an everyday occurance, "so we can blame that on the Potter luck.

"Then, a cult of...Black Zetsu...worshippers attacked us in revenge for their fallen leader. That's pure Uzumaki there," she teased as Naruto rubbed the back of his neck and laughed nervously.

Shikaku's shoulders tensed as she went on, "then, there were the Iwa nin who insisted I be brought in for questioning due to me accidentally trespassing on their land two years ago...that was right when I arrived, before father adopted me. Naruto gave them a very nice speech on the power of love and cooperation and they decided to let me go," she said.

"And then the idiot mentioned you were engaged to my father, so they changed their minds again ..." Shikamaru said with a sigh.

"But then I turned their leader into a turtle, and they once again changed their minds..." Hari said, shoulders shaking with suppressed laughter.

"Naruto once again convinced them of the power of peace and love and Hari diverted a river to help with their drought, and we are assured of our continued peace with Iwa," Shikamaru said with a smirk.

The two nins at the gate were blinking in shock, obviously unsure whether they were serious or not. There were rumors, of course, of what Hari could do, but nobody had real confirmation yet.

She's going to be such a pain, he thought, and wondered if it was too late to back out.

"And then, my uncle's ninjas and the Zetsu worshipers joined forces," Hari continued. "They ambushed us in a gully. Chouji was injured when he protected Natsu and Eito from a falling rock," Hari said in a serious voice, and put her uninjured hand on the boy's head - Eito, probably, "and Ino spent most of her chakra healing him. That was yesterday."

"Yeah, but Hari and I kicked their asses with an Uzumaki-Hayano combo that literally blew them away, believe it!" Naruto interjected, and Hari laughed, then held out her hand for a fist bump, which he returned eagerly.

Unable to stay silent at this point, Shikaku stepped forward and said in what he knew Shikamaru called his 'scary voice,' "I see you brought my princess to me with some damage, Shikamaru-kun."

His son stiffened at his tone, but wasn't surprised that he was there. Naruto, on the other hand, jumped and spun around.

"Shikaku-san! Ehehe, how...how are you?" he faltered at the man's steady look.

"Well, that would be a problem if I was a box of goods belonging to you, but since I'm a person who's perfectly capable of making her own decisions on whether to fight or not, there's nothing left to say about it," a cool, steady voice said, and Shikaku's eyes shifted to Hari, who had turned around fully.

He blinked once, slowly, the only indication that he was surprised, and ignored his son's knowing look.

The princess was...very young, and very attractive, even with her hair a mess, a bruise on her jaw to go with her split lip, and her dusty traveling leathers.

Her pale skin, black hair, and large green eyes made an striking combination. The faded lightening shaped scar on her forehead made her delicate features even more interesting. She was short, her head only came up to the top of his shoulder, and slim. All in all, she looked almost ethereal, and he was infuriated that anybody had dared to harm her.

"Their mission was to escort you safely home," he drawled, and let his eyes linger on the arm she was favoring, not missing how she straightened despite her pain at his perusal.

"They obviously failed."

Shikamaru looked down at the dirt. "Sorry, father, I -"

"Without them, my siblings and I would be dead four times over!" Hari said, and Shikaku had to resist leaning forward at the way her eyes glinted at him. "I won't allow you to talk to them like that!"

Shikamaru's eyes widened, and the two desk ninja and Kakashi were both watching raptly. This would make good gossip material later, and Shikaku almost slumped at the thought.

"You're hurt. What do you think enemies of my clan will believe when they heard you were already injured and forced to fight for your life when our agreement is to protect you?"

He blinked twice in shock when she rolled her eyes.

"Oh, please. What do you think 'enemies of your clan' will think when they heard my guards and I blew them and the surrounding scenery sky high when they aimed an attack at my siblings?" she asked, and he couldn't help but focus on the way her cheeks flushed when she was angry.

"And if you think for one moment that I should stand back while some trumped up twit tries to hurt my family, you should probably look elsewhere for a wife!" she snapped, and when he saw her eyes were shimmering with tears, his own widened as Shikamaru dropped his forehead onto his hand.

"Maa, maa, princess, let's just calm down," Kakashi said, bringing his book up to cover his face. "I think what Shikaku-san meant to say is that he was worried, and he's sorry he came across as a caveman," the man said, flicking his eyes at Shikaku.

"Right," he said after a moment. "I...apologize," he said stiffly, ignoring the dropped jaws of the two desk nin.

His reputation was ruined. This would be worse than the jelly incident.

"I didn't mean to imply that you're unable to take care of yourself...I was just worried when you were late and I heard you were attacked," he grumbled at the ground.

There was silence for a moment before Hari answered.

"I'm...sorry too, for losing my temper. I guess I'm just a little worn out from the long journey," she said with less grace than most nobles would use when apologizing.

"Well," Shikamaru said after a long, strained silence. "Naruto and I need to report in, and Hari, Eito, and Natsu should head to the hospital for a check up. Dad, you should probably come with us. Kakashi-sensei, do you mind..."

"I'll take them to the hospital," the copy nin said, then giggled at whatever he was reading, causing Hari to give him a suspicious look and the twins to give him an intrigued one.

Hari gave Shikaku a stiff bow, and he returned it. Then she turned to follow Kakashi while the gate nin assured Naruto they'd make sure the princess' things made it to the Nara compound.

Shikaku slumped in despair as Shikamaru gave him an amused look.

"An auspicious beginning," he said, and smiled at his father's groan.

000

Hari gave Shikamaru a sheepish look when he came to collect her from the hospital. The twins were asleep in the chairs, and she was halfway to a doze herself.

"So," she said as she followed him out of the hospital after he somehow maneuvered both twins into his arms. "How ready is your dad to kick me to the curb, and are you sure you're not willing to marry me?"

"I was going to ask you the same thing about my father. He moped all through the meeting, and I'm pretty sure he's expecting a message from the Hokage telling him you've chosen a Hyuuga instead."

Hari eyed him, and adjusted her arm in the sling, glad it was her left and not her wand hand. He tipped his head towards it.

"Just the dislocation?" he asked, and she nodded.

"Mm, a few cracked ribs, too. No biggie," she said. "I'm just glad I convinced them to heal my lip - I hate split lips, they take forever to heal," she said.

He snorted. "A dislocated shoulder and cracked ribs are fine, but you find a split lip annoying." She grinned at him.

"So, are we still on to be mother and son, or...?" he asked leadingly.

Hari sighed. "I...I don't know. He didn't seem to like me much," she said in a small voice.

"Oh, I wouldn't say that," Shikamaru said in a wry tone. "I didn't realize he was so bad with women, no wonder he's stayed single all this time."

Hari laughed, then winced a bit as it jostled her ribs.

"Ugh, I know they're worried about healing me too much with chakra until they understand my bloodline limit, but seriously. Maybe Ino will speed it along for me," she said.

Then she sighed and met his steady gaze, knowing after traveling with him that he expected an answer.

"I just don't want to be married to someone that will be constantly disappointed in me," she admitted as they stepped off the main, busy street onto a lightly wooded one. "Like you said, if he expects a sweet, soft-spoken princess..."

Shikamaru nodded.

"Well, you'll have to talk to him about that, but I don't think that's it," he offered. "I think he really was just panicked when he saw you waltz through the gates looking like you'd been in battle. Besides, he was right - we did fail when you got hurt. That's just fact."

Hari scowled at him. "Well, it's not like we expected that much trouble. Some of those ninja were really strong," she protested.

"And we're four of Konoha's strongest. As the team leader, I need to take responsibility for your injuries," he said firmly. "I chose to let you fight so I could protect Ino while she healed Chouji."

"It was the right decision," Hari said, and Eito stirred and opened his eyes.

"Shikamaru-niisan?" he muttered, and Hari's heart melted.

He hadn't called Shikamaru niisan before, and she could see he wasn't unaffected either.

"Hey, Eito. We're almost to your new house, okay?"

The little boy's face twisted into a mixture of grief and excitement. Nobody had been happy to leave Hibiki behind, but the twins were still intrigued at the idea of living with 'really strong ninja' like Shikamaru.

"Aa," he finally said, and pushed his face into the crook of Shikamaru's neck.

"I'll talk to your father," Hari said, that old determination to keep her siblings safe and happy rising in her chest. "I'll make it work."

The Nara compound was made of simple houses with large yards and a bordering forest full of healthy, green trees that stretched towards the sky, their massive trunks taking prominence in the scenery. The twins had woken up, and were staring wide eyed around them. Finally, they came to a large, low wooden house at the edge of the forest.

"Here we are," Shikamaru said, "open the door for me?"

Hari rushed to do so, relieved when she found the door unlocked. Shikamaru set the twins down, and somehow managed to toe off his sandals while they clung to him. She took off her own as well, and helped her brother and sister do the same, setting them in a neat row on the shoe stand.

Shikaku appeared in the doorway, looking unconcerned. Natsu glared at him and put her hands on her hips.

"Are you going to make Aneki cry again, because mmph - " Hari had slapped her hand over the girl's mouth.

"Enough, Natsu-chan," she muttered. "Don't be rude."

"But you yelled at him - " Eito said, but cut off at the older girl's glare.

"Nara-sama," Hari said, standing and executing as perfect a bow as she could with her arm in a sling and her ribs wrapped. "I'm sorry we didn't get a proper introduction earlier. This is my brother, Hayano Eito, and my sister, Hayano Natsu. Please, feel free to call us by our first names," she murmured respectfully.

Her siblings bowed, an automatic response for children raised in a noble family.

When she straightened, Shikaku was rubbing the back of his neck.

"Ah - it's nice to meet you," he said, and gave a bow of his own. "Please, call me Shikaku," he said.

"Are you still going to marry Hari? Because she thinks you don't want her anym-"

Natsu squeaked as Shikamaru grabbed her and put her under his arm.

"Right," he muttered, grabbing Eito in the same hold and ignoring their delighted laughter. "Come on, I'll show you to your rooms, where you can get clean - don't argue, Natsu, you stink, seriously - and then I'll take you guys into town with me to pick up dinner. How's that sound?"

Hari gave the three of them an impossibly fond smile - they'd really bonded on the trip - and moved to follow Shikamaru.

"I'd like it if we could speak after I freshen up, Shikaku-san. Would you be available in an hour or so?"

"I, yes, of course," he said, and she was amused when he fumbled his words a bit. "Though if you're tired from your trip, we could do it tomorrow..."

Hari gave him a small smile. "I'd...rather clear the air right away, if that's okay."

He nodded, and motioned for her to head down the hall.

"I'll make us tea," he said, and was rewarded with a bright smile.

He gave her a half smile back, and her heart flipped a little. He really was incredibly attractive - his picture hadn't done him much justice. He was tall - probably half a foot taller than her - and had broad shoulders and a slim waist and hips and long, long legs. His scars and earrings gave him a sort of rugged, bad boy look, and paired with that crooked smile...well.

"I...yes. Tea. Would be good," she stuttered, and edged around him to follow Shikamaru, blushing when her chest brushed his arm and pretending not to see his slow smile.

Her rooms were more like a small suite - three bedrooms off of a small sitting room, with a bathroom attached. They were spacious, with cushy chairs and a low table with pillows surrounding it in the middle. Each bedroom had a comfortable looking bed, desk and chair, and wardrobe attached.

Their trunks had been carefully set into their rooms, and Hari moved to rummage through them to pull out fresh yukatas for each of them, keeping an ear on the twins, who were splashing in the bathroom.

She joined them once she had their clothes sorted, smiling at their antics as she forced them to wash thoroughly before the three of them entered the bath. Hari sighed in relief, leaning back and closing her eyes and letting the warm water relax her muscles.

She got out much sooner than she wanted, and couldn't help but smile when her siblings solemnly helped her dry off. She slipped on underwear and a bra, and allowed them to clumsily rewrap her ribs and tie her yukata shut.

She sighed at the sling, but knew from their stubborn faces that Natsu and Eito expected her to wear it "All the time, you heard the doctor, Aneki!"

Finally, she let Natsu brush her hair out and put it into a loose braid that trailed over one shoulder. A look in the mirror had her wrinkling her nose. She'd certainly had better days.

There were bags under her eyes as a result of the long, exhausting journey, and there was still a slight discoloration on her jaw. Her blue and white yukata bunched where her arm was in a sling, and her skin was paler than usual. Hari made a face in the mirror, then shrugged.

If it wasn't the way she'd imagined meeting her future husband, well, that was just the way her life worked. Of course, he would look completely gorgeous while she was a total mess.

Giving it up as a lost cause, she headed back out to the sitting room, where Shikamaru had returned, also freshly showered.

"You guys ready to head out?" he asked, and Eito and Natsu cheered.

"Alright, alright, no need to look so energetic," he mumbled.

Hari fiddled with the edge of her sleeve as she followed them out to the main part of the house.

"We're heading out," Shikamaru called into a room off to the side, and motioned Hari to enter as he herded the children forward.

Taking a deep breath, she walked into the room, pausing to take in the kitchen. It was good sized, with nice new appliances, an island in the center, and a small table with six chairs at the end next to the window.

Shikaku was seated at the table looking half asleep, with a tea set in front of him.

"Yo," he said, eyes flicking quickly over her.

He'd removed the green flak jacket, and his blue long sleeved shirt stretched across his chest.

"Hello, Shikaku-san," Hari said, then moved to hesitantly take a seat across from him when he motioned her forward.

He poured her a cup of fragrant tea, and she murmured her thanks before taking a sip, savoring the warmth on her fingers and tongue.

"That's good," she sighed happily, and darted her eyes at him when he chuckled.

He was studying her intently, and she felt her cheeks warm as she carefully set the cup back down.

She looked away and concentrated on running her thumb across the flowers etched on the tea cup. Finally, Shikaku spoke.

"How did you find your rooms?"

"They're very nice, thank you," she said, then bit her lip before glancing up at him from under her lashes, and decided she may as well go for broke.

"I'd like to...apologize again for losing my temper. I'd like to say it will never happen again, but...I'm afraid I tend to do that sometimes. I'm not much of a princess, to be honest," she mumbled.

To her surprise he laughed, and a large hand entered her vision and grasped her own smaller one. He pulled it towards himself, then set them both on the table, rubbing at her pulse point with his thumb.

"It's me who should be apologizing, princess," he rumbled, and she looked up at his warm brown eyes. "I've been told in no uncertain terms that I made an idiot of myself, and should be prostrating at your feet."

"Oh?" she said faintly, distracted by his calloused thumb on her soft wrist.

"Aa. I'm impressed - Naruto and my son both said you acted admirably throughout the trip, and before. You've got a fan club," he smirked as she blushed a brighter red, and her eyes skittered away from his.

"And I can't say that I'm not happy to have a bride that would defend my son and his teammates so vehemently."

"I meant what I said," she said with a shrug, and tugged her hand out of his under the pretense of taking another drink of her tea.

"They went above and beyond considering the trouble we ran into," she said with a small smile. "Your son in particular made the transition bearable. Natsu and Eito were...distraught to be leaving. He and the others did a good job making them feel comfortable."

"And you?" Shikaku asked, sounding honestly curious. "How are you feeling about all of this?"

Hari looked up at him, tilting her head to the side, but as far as she could tell, he was honestly concerned about her.

"I'm feeling...overwhelmed, I suppose. And hopeful." she added on, cursing her red cheeks but keeping eye contact.

"What do you hope for, princess?" he asked softly, leaning forward to rest his chin in the palm of a large hand.

"I guess..." she faltered for a moment, then squared her shoulders.

Right, gryffindor. She could do this.

"I guess I'd like the chance to build a family with somebody."

Shikaku's eyes widened slightly, and her confidence faltered, her eyes darting to look out the window at the field leading into the forest.

"I mean, that is, if that's what you want. Too. As well..." her rambling was cut off as he again grabbed her hand, and pulled it to be held in both of his.

"I think I can live with that," he said gently, and Hari's eyes found his again. "But I have to ask, princess, why did you choose me? I know there were other men closer to your own age in that packet we sent over."

"Well...why did you include your name?" Hari asked, head tilting to the side.

"I asked you first, princess," he said with a small smile.

She huffed. "I have a name, you know," she muttered, and scowled when he just raised a brow at her.

"I guess...I admired Shikamaru already. He was intelligent, and kind in his own way, and the twins liked him. Before the list was sent over, we spoke about you a bit. He really respects you, you know. And I thought...if you could create somebody like Shikamaru, you must be a good man..." she huffed.

"That sounds kind of stupid now that I say it out loud but, I just already felt comfortable with you. And all the stories that Ino and Chouji and Shikamaru told about you after I decided only reassured me that you were a good man."

Shikaku hummed, but she could tell he was pleased with her answer.

"Shikamaru got the best of me and his mother," he said fondly. "He'll surpass me someday - in some ways he already has."

Hari smiled at him when she heard the obvious love for his son in his voice. "Okay, your turn - why did you put yourself in the pool?"

The man shrugged, and turned her palm over to study it, running a finger along one of the lines and making her shiver.

"The elders of the clan have been pushing me to find a wife," he began slowly, "but I didn't have anybody that seemed like they would work. None of the women that I could really stand to be around had what it took to help me run the clan. None of the suggestions from the elders were women that I wanted to live with."

"So I was a desperate last ditch plan?" she teased, but her heart had clenched at his answer.

He sighed, and tugged her hand until she looked back at his face.

"No. I'd heard rumors about you already - how you were the only reason the Fruit Daimyo and his children still lived. The beloved adopted daughter, accepted by not only your family but the people of the country as well.

"And Shikamaru and Naruto's reports spoke well of you. I knew you probably wouldn't choose me, but...I hoped," he said with a shrug, and looked uncomfortable.

Her heart warmed, and she gave him a shy smile.

"Okay," she said, and he raised an eyebrow.

"Okay, hmmm?"

He released her hand to take a sip of his tea, and for awhile they sat in comfortable silence, drinking tea and looking out the window.

"I'd like to take the next few weeks to get to know you and your siblings better," Shikaku said.

"I have to work during the day, but maybe Shikamaru and I could take you on a tour of the compound when I get home tomorrow," he said, studying his tea intently.

Hari nodded shyly, pleased that he'd included Natsu and Eito in their plans.

"I'd like that," she said, and was rewarded with another half smile.

A few minutes later Shikamaru arrived with the food, and Hari couldn't help but laugh at his stressed out and ruffled expression.

"Oh no, were they horrible?" she asked, even as her stomach rumbled at the delicious smells coming from the bags.

"No, just...energetic," he said, and his eyes looked haunted.

"We got barbeque!" Eito said.

"Yeah, from Chouji-niisan's aunt. She was really nice, and I told her all about how Chouji saved us, and she gave us free brownies! But Shika-niisan said we couldn't have any until we asked you."

Natsu looked so aggrieved at that statement that Shikamaru sighed and muttered something under his breath.

"Well, he made the right call," Hari said brusquely, standing to help Shikaku pull plates from the cupboards.

He gave her an amused look that she ignored.

"You know better than to try and eat a brownie before dinner, Natsu-flower," she scolded lightly but without heat, using Habiki's nickname for the girl.

"Yeah, but I'm so hungry," Eito whined, and Shikamaru snorted.

"Well, we're about to eat, aren't we? Sit down, I'll fill up your plates," she said gently, recognizing that they were on their last legs.

They both did so, sensing weakness in her sympathy and giving her wide, sad eyes. Unable to resist, she patted and cooed at them as she fixed their plates, making sure they got plenty of vegetables.

"There you are, darlings. Now eat up, and you can have a bit of brownie before bedtime, alright?" She smoothed down Eito's hair, and he leaned into his touch.

Belatedly, she realized she had taken Shikamaru's plate and started to fill it.

"Uh..." she said, blushing red at his raised eyebrow.

"I like the pork buns and green beans the best," he drawled, and she stuck her tongue out at him before piling his plate high, including a few other vegetables as well.

Shikaku had his chin in his hand and was watching her unashamedly, and she faltered a bit when she noticed his regard.

"Aren't you going to fill my plate, too, Hari-san?" he purred, and she blushed bright red, but picked it up and made a questioning motion.

"I'm okay with all of it, all Akimichi food is good," he said dismissively.

She hesitated, and then put a bit of everything on his plate and handed it to him. Finally, she loaded up her own and sat down.

Hari had to stop herself from shoveling food into her mouth - it had been a long time since lunch, and they'd been eating rations for weeks. She wasn't able to stop her low appreciative moan at the taste of the pork, closing her eyes and ignoring the clatter of somebody's chopsticks suddenly hitting a plate.

"This is so good," she said, and opened her eyes, blinking in confusion at Shikamaru's amused face and Shikaku's blank one.

"Mmm-hmm!" Natsu agreed enthusiastically, and Eito nodded.

"Too bad the Akimichi didn't offer you a contract," Shikamaru drawled, snickering at his dad's glare.

Hari rolled her eyes and ignored him in favor of potatoes in some sort of brown sauce.

"You were so right Shikaku-san," Hari said with a happy sigh once she'd stuffed herself. "Akimichi food is amazing! Thank you so much for picking some up, Shikamaru," she said warmly, and he just shrugged, looking half asleep.

"I'll do the dishes," Shikaku said. "You four look half-dead." Hari tried to protest, and he waved it away. "Go on, off to bed," he drawled.

Hari had to admit she was exhausted, and could tell her brother and sister were doing no better. She thanked Shikaku profusely, then herded her siblings towards their quarters. She had to bully them into their pajamas and stand over them as they brushed their teeth, but eventually had them in bed.

Finally, she was sliding in between her own sheets, sighing in happiness before drifting into sleep. She woke for a moment when Eito and Natsu slipped into bed beside her, but their warm little bodies and gentle breathing lulled her back into slumber.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-

**Next time.**

**Shikaku and Hari get to know each other, and the twins charm the pants off of Konoha.**


	2. Chapter 2

They slept until almost noon the next day and probably would have slept longer if Hari hadn't been forced out of bed by her throbbing ribs and shoulder.

"Urck," she mumbled, stumbling into the bathroom to splash water on her face.

She heard her siblings stirring, and quickly used the bathroom and brushed her teeth so they could take care of their own ablutions when they were ready. She glanced out the window when she went into the sitting room, ignoring the twins racing for the bathroom and Natsu's enraged howl as Eito slammed the door in her face.

It looked like it would be a fairly warm day, so Hari pulled out a light pink, short yukata for Natsu with a pair of shorts, and a blue one with lightweight cargo pants for her brother. After some thought, she decided on a light green one with pink flowers along the hem for herself. Hibiki always said she looked beautiful in it and used to request that she wear it. Her heart gave a pang as she thought of him, and she swallowed but gamely continued with her day. Loss, after all, was something she was an old hand at.

She dug through her trunk and pulled out a bag with some kohl to lightly line her eyes with and some tint for her lips. It was a little tricky with one good hand and a slightly sore shoulder, but she managed it. She brushed her hair, and after adding some oil to tame it, decided it would do fine staying loose.

"Natsu! Eito! Are you ready for breakfast?" she called, feeling somewhat more alive now that she was dressed.

She walked into the sitting room and raised an eyebrow at their state of general undress, and sighed before moving to help Natsu with her tie and turn Eito's yukata right side out.

When they were ready they made their way to the kitchen, where Shikamaru was slumped over the table with a cup of tea, filling out paperwork. The twins made a beeline for him, and he raised an eyebrow at them as they clambered onto the chairs on either side of him and began peppering him with questions.

"Whatcha workin' on Shikamaru-niisan?" Natsu asked.

"Mission Report - what's that?" Eito said after peeking at the paper.

"It's classified is what it is," Shikamaru said, but didn't move to stop them from reading.

"Eito, Natsu! Leave poor Shikamaru alone to do his work," Hari scolded. "Have you eaten yet, Shikamaru?" she asked and laughed at his hangdog expression.

"No," he said.

"Well, let's see if there's anything in here...hmm. Omelets?" she asked after looking through the fridge, and Eito cheered.

"Sounds good," Shikamaru said before going back to writing.

"Can we please go outside in the yard while you cook, Aneki?" Natsu begged, eyes wide.

Hari hesitated.

"I don't know..." she said. "If you wait until after breakfast, I can go with you. I don't think you should be out alone right now."

Both of the twins made high pitched whining noises in the back of their throats, and she rolled her eyes.

"I'll take them," Shikamaru said. "I just finished this, anyway."

He stretched and yawned as he stood, and Eito and Natsu cheered.

"Are you sure?" Hari asked, and he shot her an unimpressed look.

"I said I would, didn't I?"

She held up the hand attached to her uninjured arm in surrender and noted to herself that Shikamaru was a little cranky before breakfast.

"You two - behave, and listen to Shikamaru. If you don't, I won't let you go out just the three of you anymore," she warned.

"We'll be good, we promise!" Eito said, and Natsu grabbed Shikamaru's hand and pulled him towards the door in the kitchen that lead to the backyard.

He grunted and picked up his tea as he followed.

"Thanks, Shikamaru," she said with a smile, and he nodded before disappearing out the door.

She kept an eye on them as she searched through the cupboards, pulling out a rice cooker and a bag of rice. Once that was started, she found a mixing bowl and a whisk and cracked eggs into it, whipping it into a froth with a bit of difficulty due to her sling. Taki had started teaching Hari how to cook soon after she'd arrived. She'd been maudlin at the time, mourning the people she'd lost, and at loose ends, so Taki had taken her under her wing, having her help with the day-to-day raising of the twins.

On top of the time she spent with tutors learning the local language and history, she'd learned how to function in her new life, as well. Hari sighed and pushed away the sadness that threatened to loom over her as she thought of Taki. A glance out the window had her laughing into her fist as she watched a miserable Shikamaru try to fend off an excitable Natsu.

Half an hour later she called the three in to eat and tried not to show her amusement at how ruffled Shikamaru looked. He glared at her but seemed appeased when she set a large omelet in front of him along with a fresh cup of tea. She absentmindedly patted him on the head before sitting down to her own meal.

After they'd had their fill, Hari hesitated before shrugging and casting a charm Mrs. Weasley had taught her to set the dishes to washing themselves. Natsu and Eito barely twitched, as they were used to it, but Shikamaru's eyes widened and he straightened a bit at the sight of dishes and sponges flying through the air to clean up the breakfast mess.

"Shikaku-san would like to give us a tour of the compound this afternoon when he returns from work," Hari said with a yawn. "I thought we could spend some time unpacking while we wait."

She ignored the groans of the children and hustled them towards their rooms. She raised an eyebrow when Shikamaru stood to follow.

"You can't possibly want to spend your day watching us unpack," she said, and he shot her a look.

"I'm on 'keep the princess alive' duty today," he said. "And if I don't want to be assigned missions from hell I had better not let you get hurt again."

The last sounded like he was directly quoting somebody, and Hari huffed out a breath of air.

"Fantastic," she muttered but didn't argue.

It was, after all, what she had asked for in their agreement, and after all of the attempts on the lives of her siblings, she couldn't claim it was unwarranted. See, she could be a grown-up sometimes.

They spent the next few hours unpacking trunks and dewrinkling kimonos from travel while Shikamaru alternated between dozing on the couch and helping the twins when they hit something they couldn't handle on their own. They took a small break for sandwiches and tea in the backyard, and Hari watched the twins play a game of ninja after Shikamaru explained the rules on the lawn.

"Thank you," she said, turning towards him with a soft smile on her face.

"For what?" he asked, not bothering to turn his face from where he was watching the sky.

"For being so accommodating, I suppose," Hari said. "You could have ignored us or been upset with us for invading your home. Instead, you've been very kind, and even made an effort with the twins."

Shikamaru just shrugged. "Well, it's been a little quiet and lonely in that house with just the two of us. And you never complain when I nap, so."

Hari laughed and shook her head. Of course, that would be the criteria for being okay in Shikamaru's book. They finished unpacking an hour or so later and were lounging in the sitting room when Shikaku returned.

"I'm home," he called.

"Welcome home!" the twins called in unison, then broke down into giggles.

The older Nara raised his eyebrows at them when he entered the room, hands in his pockets, which made them giggle even more. Hari sighed.

"Ignore them - they've been cooped inside too long, I think. Welcome home, Shikaku-san," she said and gave him a tentative smile.

He returned it with a quirk of his lips as he leaned against the doorway.

"Was Shikamaru good for you?" he asked, and the boy glared at him from where he was lying on the couch, two small children crawling on him.

"He was, Shikaku-san," Hari said, eyes glinting in mirth. "But he might need a nap after spending the day with the twins."

Shikamaru grumbled at her but didn't protest.

"Natsu, Eito, Shikaku-sama has offered to give us a tour of the Nara compound today. Go brush your hair and make yourselves presentable, then we'll leave."

Hari blushed when Shikaku ran slow, appreciative eyes over her, glad suddenly that she'd chosen one of her nicer outfits and put some effort into her appearance. Soon they were all bustling out the door, the kids unashamedly hanging off the clan head and heir and peppering them with questions as they lazily crisscrossed the compound. They listened with wide-eyed wonder as Shikaku told the history of the Nara clan forest.

"Hashirama-sama grew all the trees? By himself?" Natsu asked, awed, and he nodded easily, gesturing with the arm that wasn't held out for Hari to hold onto.

She was trying and failing to ignore the muscle definition she could feel on the forearm beneath her hand, instead following the motion to stare up at the huge, towering trees.

"It was a gift and a responsibility. We grow many medicinal plants and protect the deer that provide antlers used for medical purposes, as well. Our clan is closely involved in medical research in the village, and highly respected for it."

Eito stared up at him, wide-eyed. "Really?" he breathed, and Shikaku gave him a sharp look.

"Would you like to see our labs?" he asked, and Natsu groaned as Eito nodded eagerly.

"Maybe Shikamaru can introduce Natsu to the blacksmith while we go to the labs," Shikaku said, and Hari laughed as Natsu turned wide eyes on her soon-to-be stepson.

"Please, Shikamaru-niisan?" She begged, and he sighed but caved easily enough.

The Naras they came across all gave her the same sharp-eyed looks as they were introduced, but didn't seem to have anything against her. She had a feeling they were reserving judgment on their new Lady, not that Hari could blame them. Eito, however, was adored in the labs as he shot question after question at an amused-looking lab tech. He beamed when they offered him a too-big coat and goggles and showed him some of the less sensitive and dangerous things they were working on.

"He's cute," Shikaku said, and Hari grinned up at him.

"Yes, and he knows it. I'm afraid I spoil them, and now we're all suffering for it," she admitted fondly, and he chuckled.

"My clan won't mind. We like kids," he admitted, and Hari gave him a shy smile.

"I'm glad," she said and didn't protest when he stepped a little closer.

Hari made dinner that night, once again sending thanks to Taki for taking the time to teach her, especially when Shikaku complimented her tonkatsu. Eito smirked at her when she blushed and she gave him a mock glare. After a moment of hesitation, she waved her wand, and Shikaku stiffened, wide-eyed, as he watched his dishes start washing themselves.

Hari chewed on her lower lip and watched him from the corner of her eyes as she packed up the leftovers with Shikamaru's help. After a moment, he just shrugged.

"Well, that's useful," he drawled, and she breathed out a sigh of relief before smiling at him.

She was a bit amused that his response was almost identical to the one Shikamaru had given when he first saw her magic.

The next few days went much the same way. Shikaku took time when he could to show them around, and on the third day, he escorted them to the park so that Eito and Natsu could meet other children and the Hayanos could become familiar with the village. Hari ignored the interested and suspicious stares with the ease of long practice, and Eito and Natsu followed her lead after a few minutes of looking unsure.

They'd joined a rough-looking game of ninja with a group of children when they arrived, thanks to Natsu's fearless approach to making friends. Eito looked less comfortable, but as always was content to follow Natsu's lead.

"I was wondering if you'd like to join me for dinner tomorrow night," Shikaku said from next to her, where they were sitting on a bench.

Hari turned to look at him, blinking in surprise.

"Like...a date?" she said carefully, and he gave her that half smile she was starting to really, really like.

"Aa, like a date. I'd like to get to know you," he said.

"I...alright. That would be nice."

He smirked at her awkwardness and she glared, causing him to chuckle.

"So touchy, princess," he rumbled, and she swallowed and looked away.

Shikaku was...interesting. At first, his size and lazy deadliness were intimidating, but after a few days, she'd started to feel safe when he was around. Hari had a feeling that if anybody tried to hurt her or her siblings in his presence, they wouldn't live long. He was also incredibly attractive, and it made her nervous.

"Well, if you wouldn't tease me," she muttered, but there was no heat to it.

He just laughed again, then reached out with one of his large hands and grabbed hers, casually threading their fingers together. Hari blinked down at their entwined hands before glancing up at him from under her lashes. He was still leaning back against the bench, but he was watching her reaction closely. She gave him a tentative smile and squeezed his hand with hers, and in response, he relaxed even more, and she realized with a jolt of surprise that he'd been nervous.

The thought was weirdly comforting, and she leaned back too, raising her face to the sun with a sigh. They walked through the market on the way back, Shikaku easily answering questions she had about some of the foods and spices she'd never encountered before. She became flustered when the merchants bowed and called her Hayano-hime, offering her samples of the wares that pulled her attention.

"Oh! Thank you very much, merchant-san," she said to an elderly man with shaky hands as he handed her a few green, sweet berries.

She eyed the side of his stall, which was being held up by a piece of wood sloppily nailed into place.

"Please, call me Akemi," he deferred.

"Well, then, you must call me Hari, and this is Eito and Natsu. May I?" she said politely, and he tipped his head in confusion.

"Of course, hime," he said, though it was obvious he had no idea what she meant to do.

Taking a deep breath, she released her wand into her hand and pointed it at the damage before firing a Reparo at it.

There were gasps of delight and shock as the stand shuttered once before the wood moved to repair itself.

"All better," she said and swallowed nervously at the eyes on her. "Thank you again for the sample, Akemi-san. I enjoyed it very much, can you tell me the name of the berries?"

The merchant, to his credit, seemed to recover quickly, but then he was part of a ninja village - it's not like strange powers were out of the norm. Shikaku bought some of the fruit for her, waving off her protests and staring down the rest of the square until their eyes turned elsewhere.

"You're going to be quite troublesome, aren't you, princess?" he said as they made their way home.

He slipped an arm around her waist when she just shrugged, and Natsu and Eito wrinkled their noses at them but didn't comment.

The next morning her restlessness got the best of her, and she slipped on a pair of loose pants that ended mid-calf and comfortable shoes with a supportive bra and loose t-shirt over the top. She then snuck out of the house after slipping on her wand holster, pointedly leaving her sling behind. After a moment of thought, she shrugged and took off for a jog through the Nara compound. Surely all of the Nara roaming around looking miserable in the early morning light counted as bodyguards.

Her ribs weren't fully healed, but it was easy enough to ignore the twinges and instead enjoy the physical exertion. Soon her stride extended and she fell into a rhythm, allowing her mind to go blank as she concentrated on her form and keeping her breathing even. She easily remembered the paths from her tours with Shikaku and waved cheerfully at a few disturbed-looking Nara.

Apparently even watching somebody work out this early caused them pain. She snickered to herself at the thought, then pulled up short when a stressed-looking woman that she recognized as the lab tech Eito had taken a liking to called out her name. Hari slowed down and waited for the huffing woman to catch up to her.

"Aiko-san, hello," she said, feeling cheerful for the exercise and fresh air despite her ribs and shoulder making their injuries known.

"Ah, hello Hayano-sama," the woman said, looking supremely uncomfortable. "I was just wondering...that is...where are your guards?"

Hari blinked at her as she wrung her hands, then shrugged.

"Oh, I don't have any at the moment," she said and sighed as the woman blinked her eyes rapidly in shock.

She was blonde with green eyes, and Hari remembered that Shikaku had told her she'd married into the clan last year, which would explain her un-Nara-like stress.

"It's fine," she soothed, "Shikaku and Shikamaru are both at the house with the kids, and they're the targets..."

She drifted off as Aiko shook her head, "No, you don't understand. The whole clan is under orders to keep you guarded at all times," she said in a serious voice.

"I - what?" Hari stuttered, but the woman was already looking around with a determined expression before her eyes lit up and she waved over a young-looking Nara girl in standard Konoha gear and a hitai-ate.

"Rai-san! Would you be so kind as to escort Hayano-sama back to Nara-sama's house?" she said politely, and the kunoichi in front of her jolted in shock at her name before executing a lazy bow.

"Hayano-sama, of course, I'd be delighted," she said, and Hari scowled at her, with no visible effect.

"That won't be necessary," she insisted. "I'll just finish up my run and return on my own -"

"Oh, a run? Do you mind if I join you? I would love some exercise," Rai said and flashed her a smile at her exasperated look.

Of course, Hari couldn't deny that request from one of her betrothed's clanswomen without causing a scene.

Hari gave her a sharp grin, frustrated that her nice, solitary run was being ruined.

"Of course, Rai-san. I'd be delighted," she said sweetly.

An hour later Rai and Hari collapsed in the front yard, gasping for air. Well, Hari was gasping for air, and Rai looked mildly annoyed.

"Oh my god," Rai said. "I thought we'd be doing a leisurely jog, not attempting suicide by running."

Hari laughed out loud, then winced and put her hand on her ribs. Okay, so maybe she'd overdone it in her twisted revenge scheme.

"Serves you right," she gasped, and Rai sighed.

"Rai-san, Hari," Shikaku's low voice said, and Rai stiffened next to her. "Nice to see you're both alive."

Hari sat up, fighting not to wince and pushing her sweaty hair out of her face, grinning up at her soon-to-be husband.

"Rai-san was kind enough to volunteer to be my guard while I went for a run," she said and faltered at his furious expression.

Next to her, Rai quailed.

"Imagine my surprise when Eito and Natsu came out asking where you'd gone this morning," he said. "Shikamaru is out looking for you right now."

"Oh, did I worry them? They know I usually go for a run in the mornings," Hari said, confused. "Though I suppose it's been awhile since we've been in a position where I could."

"They informed me," he said stiffly before turning to his clan member. "Rai-san, thank you very much for taking time out of your schedule to guard my betrothed. I'll make sure you're paid for your time."

The girl, who had struggled to her feet, gave a lazy shrug.

"It's no problem, Nara-sama. Hari-san is in good shape."

She then gave Hari a small, sympathetic smile and a bow before slouching off. Hari, who had realized she'd screwed up, twisted her hands together.

"Shikaku-san? I'm very sorry for taking up Rai-san's time. She insisted on joining me..." she trailed off as Shikaku pinned her with a look.

"Of course she did, I made it clear to my clan how much danger you're in," he said in a calm voice, but she could see the tension in the way he held himself.

"Oh...well, it's really my siblings who are in danger," she said slowly. "And I assumed the Nara compound would be safe enough to go out and about in."

"Don't be stupid," he said, voice sharp. "You're the lynchpin in the treaty - you're in just as much if not more danger than your siblings."

She flinched back at his tone and pursed her lips together in an attempt to keep from snapping back.

"Well," she said after a moment. "I think a shower is in order. I'm very sorry for worrying you, Nara-sama," she said and ignored her aching ribs to execute a perfect bow just as Shikamaru landed on the grass next to her, looking between them warily.

"Sorry to cause you trouble, Shikamaru-san," Hari mumbled. "I'll go shower and get ready to take the kids to the park."

Shikaku sighed explosively as she disappeared inside and tried to ignore Shikamaru's glare as he pinched the bridge of his nose between his thumb and pointer finger.

"I'm starting to think you want this whole thing to fall through. Unless calling your future wife stupid is your version of foreplay," he said, and Shikaku watched as the second person he'd pissed off that morning stalked into the house.

Hari was feeling a bit better by the time they returned from the park and a little sheepish. She probably should have guessed that the Naras would be worried if they woke up and she was gone. She had meant to be back within half an hour but had gotten distracted by her competition with Rai. It still stung that Shikaku had called her stupid, but she might, possibly, have deserved it a little. Hari was used to being the protector - not the other way around - and found the role chafed a bit.

She wondered if they were still on for their date, or if Shikaku had decided to write her off. Her thoughts stuttered to a halt when they came to the house at lunch to find a large bouquet of flowers on the table. Shikamaru pushed the curious twins back so he could examine the flowers closely before smirking and waving them over, handing Hari the note that came with the bouquet.

Sorry I'm an asshole. Still on for tonight?

-S

She blinked at the note, then looked over to the lovely bouquet, and a small smile played across her lips. Hari slipped the note into her pocket before Natsu could snatch it out of her hand while Shikamaru confirmed that, yes, they were for Hari from Shikaku. Natsu squealed and clapped while Eito wrinkled his nose.

"What did he do?" he asked, and Hari frowned at him.

"What do you mean?" she asked, and he rolled his eyes.

"Well, Taki-san used to say that men only send flowers when they've screwed up. And you were pretty sad this morning, so. What did he do?" Eito crossed his arms over his chest and scowled, and Shikamaru laughed out loud.

"You're too smart for your own good, kid," he said, amused, and Hari shot him a warning look.

"We did argue this morning," Hari allowed, and two pairs of eyes narrowed at her, "but it was my fault too. I scared him," she said with a shrug, and wouldn't answer any more questions about it.

She made them a quick lunch, then went to lay down for a nap at Shikamaru's insistence. After extracting a promise to behave from the twins, she napped for a few hours. She woke up feeling much refreshed to an excitable Natsu, who demanded that she be allowed to help Hari prepare for her date.

While Hari went and soaked in a bath with some jasmine-scented oils, she let Natsu look through her dresses, as they'd both agreed a kimono was too formal for a get-to-know-each-other dinner. Hari let her lips quirk up when Natsu came in holding a white silk dress that Hari had worn to the birthday party of a noble last year. It had pearl buttons all the way up the front and capped sleeves. The shimmering material ended just above the knees, and Taki had told her it showed off her figure without being too revealing.

Hari nodded her approval as she left the bath, wincing a little as she pulled at her ribs. Once she was dry, she pulled on underthings that wouldn't cause lines beneath the dress, then took her hair out of the bun she'd put it in to keep it dry. It fell to just below her shoulders, and she sat down and allowed Natsu to curl it. As a child from a noble family, the young girl had been able to curl hair and match outfits since she was four, so Hari wasn't concerned about how it would turn out.

Once her hair was lying in soft waves around her face, she applied some eyeliner and lip gloss with Natsu's help, grinning at the cute face her little sister made when she was concentrating. When they heard Shikaku greeting Eito and Shikamaru, Natsu darted off to Hari's wardrobe to grab a pair of simple heeled light blue sandals, holding them up for Hari's approval. When she got it, she grabbed her hand and dragged her out of the room.

"...and if you upset her again, Natsu and I will be forced to intervene," Hari heard Eito saying in the voice he used when talking down to adults that had said something particularly stupid to him.

Her eyes widened and she quickened her steps until she emerged into the family room, stopping short when she saw Shikaku crouched in front of a scowling Eito, nodding his head with proper solemnity to let him know he was following his lecture. An amused Shikamaru was sprawled out on the couch watching the show, completely unwilling to bail his father out.

"I understand," he said. "I can't guarantee never to upset your sister, but I'll try very hard to make her happy."

"Eito!" Hari hissed, knowing she was blushing in embarrassment.

Her focus was on her brother's now-sheepish face, so she missed the way Shikaku did a double take when he saw her, eyes widening minutely.

Natsu didn't, and she put her hands on her hips, sandals still hanging from one finger, and her expression turned smug.

"She looks pretty, huh, Shikaku-san?"

Hari closed her eyes and groaned.

"You two are so embarrassing," she mumbled.

"Aa," Shikaku said as he stood and put his hands in his pockets. "You look very nice, Hari-hime," he said and she blinked open her eyes to stare at him, knowing her blush was probably out of control by that point.

He kept his eyes on her so she'd know he meant it, and she swallowed.

"Um. Thank you, Shikaku-san," she finally said. "And...thank you for the flowers today, as well. They're beautiful."

"Right," Shikamaru said after an awkward pause. "Who wants to come to explore the forest with me and one of my cousins?"

Both children brightened, and Natsu shoved Hari's sandals into Shikaku's hands before taking off out the back door, Eito on her heels. Shikamaru looked alarmed when he realized they'd left without him, and followed so fast Hari didn't see him leave.

"Huh, I didn't know he could move that quickly," she said, and Shikaku grinned.

"Sit down, princess," he said. "I'll help you with your sandals."

She hesitated, but walked over to the couch and sat stiffly. He kneeled down in front of her and gently picked up her right foot, then slipped the sandal on, large hands buckling the dainty leather around her ankle with surprising delicacy.

"I can put on my own sandals, you know," she said, flustered, as he started on the other.

He responded with a sharp grin, and her heart flipped in her chest.

"Where's the fun in that?" he asked, and she shivered a little at the feeling of his large hand cupping her smooth calf as he used the other to slip on the second shoe. S

he praised her decision to do a second shave in the bath earlier as he let his hand linger before sliding away.

He was still dressed in his standard jounin uniform, and Hari had to admit to herself that he looked extremely handsome in it. She placed her small hand in his large one and let him pull her to her feet. When they left the house to step into the warm evening air he gently placed her hand in the crook of his elbow as he led her down the path towards the compound gates.

"So, Eito is pretty smart," Shikaku said. "The Nara clan has a school for our clan children that aren't attending the Academy. It's small, but the coursework is more challenging than the school in the village and helps the children identify what they'd like to specialize in. Think he'd be interested in that?"

"Oh! Um, yes, I'm sure he will. What about Natsu, though?" Hari asked.

"She'd be welcome there, too, if that's what she wanted," he said, and Hari nodded.

"Well, I doubt she'll want to be separated from Eito."

"No, I imagine not."

They walked in comfortable silence until they passed through the compound gates and into Konoha proper.

"There's a lot of construction going on still," Hari commented, and Shikaku hummed his agreement.

"We're still working on rebuilding from the war," he said as he led them down the street.

Hari refrained from fidgeting under the curious stares of those around her.

"You must not get a lot of foreign brides with mysterious bloodline limits around here," Hari said as he directed her down a street full of the smells of cooking food.

"Not any half so pretty as you, anyway. Certainly, none that can claim the title of Princess," he said as she blushed again.

Before she could reply, he was tugging her into a bustling restaurant that smelled of BBQ and whose staff was mostly made up of Akimichi.

"You said you liked their cooking," he said.

Hari beamed up at him, and he gave her his half smile back, ignoring the admiring looks she was getting from a few of the other parties waiting for a table except to slip an arm around her waist.

If she didn't stop blushing like that, Shikaku thought to himself, he couldn't be held accountable for his actions. The cook, a friendly woman with a large build, greeted him by name and led him to the table he'd stopped by to reserve earlier that day - a quiet corner booth, set back from the rest of the patrons. He slid into the seat and tugged her down to sit next to him, throwing a casual arm around her shoulders and glaring at the busboy when his eyes lingered too long on Hari's hemline as he poured them two glasses of water.

The boy jerked in alarm, barely managing to keep himself from spilling, before stuttering out the specials and high tailing it to the other side of the restaurant. Hari was busy reading a menu, eyes lit up at the thought of more Akimichi dining.

"What do you suggest?" she asked with that strange, rolling accent of hers.

He hummed, leaned against her to read over her shoulder.

"I can order for us if you'd like," he offered, and she sent him a relieved smile.

"So, you're from an alternate dimension," he said so casually that she laughed.

"You and Shikamaru, you're always so unaffected." She shook her head. "But, yes - I'm guessing your son and Ino-san sent you and your Hokage all the information I gave them on that," she said calmly.

"They did," he admitted. "I have to say, it was an interesting read. It said you were in law enforcement?" he pressed, and she sent him an amused look that said she wasn't fooled by his casual demeanor.

"I was. A...dark wizard hunter," she explained. "Those are magic users that go wrong, I suppose."

"You're very open about your past," he said slowly. "The way you repaired that man's stall..."

"I'm well aware of the rumors going around about the way I've kept my family alive the last few years, and the strange things I did to help out in Fruit Country. I'm not...a fan of keeping parts of myself hidden," she said. "I've been there and I know it's something that can eat away at you. Plus, I want to contribute. I can't do that if I hide what I can do."

He nodded and reached down with the hand attached to the arm around her shoulders to pick up a lock of hair, twisting it around his fingers.

"In this world, people try to steal powerful bloodlines," he said without censure as if he was pointing out that the sky was blue or ninjas were paranoid.

Hari actually laughed. "I'm hard to keep ahold of - you should ask Iwa about that the next time you see them."

"Oh?" he asked, and couldn't help but quirk his lips up at the mischievous smile she sent him.

"Yep. I'll show you sometime. Though, I do wish my training was more useful offensively here," she said wistfully. "You shinobi are just too damn fast. Most of what I use effectively is defensive, or good for escape. And security - I spent a lot of time learning how to keep people and objects safe from those who would steal or harm them."

"You're used to being an ass kicker," he said like it was a revelation, and her peal of laughter drew the attention of the rest of the room.

"You said you read the report!" she said mock accusingly. "I may not look like much, but I am The Girl Who Lived, Savior of the Wizarding World twice over!"

At this, she gave a self-depreciating smile and wrinkled her nose.

"I did read something about that," he said, then hesitated. "If you'd like, I could help you train, come up with ways to use your bloodline limit offensively against shinobi."

Hari blinked up at him in shock, mouth working for a moment before she finally said, "Wait, really?"

Shikaku chuckled, the vibrations easily felt from where she was pressed against him.

"I know I came off a bit like a caveman, but I do actually believe in making somebody capable of protecting themselves. After all, I can't plan for everything," he said and sounded sad for a moment.

"No, you can't," she agreed, then decided a subject change was in order.

"Well, I'd appreciate that. Actually, once we're married, if you're interested, I have some defensive spells I can put to use for both the village and the clan. I'd...appreciate it if you'd let me put some protection around the house, for the twins."

"We can...talk about it," he said cautiously. "I'd like to talk it through first, but if it makes you feel more comfortable, you can put up some defenses in your rooms."

Another smile from her, and Shikaku was starting to feel a little warm. Their waitress came, exclaiming over how pretty Shikaku's fiancé was, and he just smiled lazily and a bit smugly for the benefit of the patrons listening in. He then ordered all of what he considered their best dishes along with some sake.

"So are your clans really as close as rumor says?" she asked, motioning towards an Akamichi waitress, and they spent some time talking about clan relations in Konoha, inasmuch as Shikaku was willing to divulge information.

The conversation moved onto a subject Hari'd been wondering about for awhile - chakra. Fruit Country didn't have a hidden village, so the information available on molding chakra was limited there. He was explaining tenketsu points when their food came.

Shikaku watched as she loaded up her plate and enthusiastically went about eating. One thing he'd noticed was that she didn't eat like a lot of civilian women tended to in public - daintily, and in tiny portions. While she ate neatly, she also did it without any kind of self-consciousness.

"So, you said you wanted to start a family," he said when she seemed to be winding down.

She glanced over at him nervously, but her eyes were determined when she nodded.

"Yes. I know that you've already done that - had a wife and a full grown child - but I've always wanted kids of my own," she said with her small sad smile.

He was cut off from replying by the waitress coming to their table, and Hari smiled widely and complimented the food, insisting it was the best thing she'd eaten in years. Her wide green eyes were honest, and her smile genuine, and the Akimichi serving them was flattered by the praise. Shikaku paid the check and waved off getting boxes before sliding out of the booth and offering a hand to Hari.

She stood and adjusted her dress, and he let his eyes run appreciatively down her form. While Hari was small, she still sported some curves - not deep ones, but enough to draw the eye. He put a hand on the small of her back as they left the restaurant, posture relaxed as he held the door open for her.

Shikaku then slipped an arm around her waist for the walk back, since she didn't seem to mind the extra touching, even if she did get a little flustered. When they had reached the quieter areas of Konoha, he continued where they'd left off.

"I wouldn't mind trying for more children," he said slowly. "My last marriage was arranged, and while we grew to care for each other, she didn't want to have more than the one child stipulated in the contract. She loved Shikamaru, of course, but she was a kunoichi before she was a mother, and that's hard on the body. Pregnancy is not an easy thing for women who lived or live that life."

"But you wanted more?" Hari asked head tilted back so she could see his face.

"Yes. I never told her - like I said, I knew where she stood, and I think she liked me enough that she'd have tried if I asked, but," he shrugged, and Hari nodded seriously.

"I understand," she said simply, then gave a small laugh. At his questioning look, she spoke.

"I was...an orphan, of sorts, raised with relatives who didn't like me much. My best friend's family informally adopted me. Ron had six siblings," she said wryly, and Shikaku made a choking noise.

"Six?" he asked, incredulous, and Hari nodded.

"Six boys and one girl - the youngest, if you can believe it, poor thing. They didn't have a lot of money, and things were always...loud. But I loved it," she said wistfully. "There was so much love and warmth..." her voice trailed off, and she bit her lip.

"You miss them," Shikaku said, and she shrugged.

"Every day," she admitted and left it at that.

"So," he said, "do you want to try for children right away?"

Even in the dim lights from the street lamps he could see her blush, and couldn't help the small rumble of laughter that escaped.

"I didn't mean that as a come on, princess."

She tripped over her own feet, and he laughed as he caught her, ignoring her glare.

"Sorry, sorry, I shouldn't tease."

He sobered and studied her as they passed through the Nara gates, where he gave a lazy wave to the guards. Once they were alone again, he continued.

"The physical aspect... we don't ever need to do something you're not comfortable with. I know I'm much older than you, and I understand if you find that unattractive."

She looked so distressed that he stopped walking and pulled her off the trail so he could turn her towards him and study her face. Her eyes were wide, but she had squared her shoulders and was looking him dead in the eye.

"No, Shikaku-san, it's not...that. I find you attractive," she said quietly, and he felt a possessive thrill at the admission.

"Its just...I'm not very experienced," she admitted, "so we might need to go slow. And I'm worried about, um, disappointing you."

He gave a few slow blinks.

"Are you saying," he said slowly, mind reeling, "that you're a virgin?"

Hari pursed her lips and breathed out through her nose in annoyance.

"Not...technically?" she said with a wince. "I mean...I did it once, about six months before I became displaced. It's a bit of a blur, honestly. I was drunk and..."

"Stop," he said and took a deep breath when she went abruptly silent because...he wasn't sure how to feel about this.

She was over twenty, after all, and it had just never crossed his mind that she'd be practically a virgin. The fact that he was excited at the prospect made him feel like a dirty old man. He pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes.

"I'm too old for this," he muttered, and his eyes flew open at her small intake of air.

Hari looked a little like he'd just slapped her. Her eyes were wide and hurt, and she stepped back and wrapped her arms around her middle.

"Right," she said flatly. "Well, I'm sorry to disappoint. Bit hard to find good partners when everybody is either in awe of you or wants something from you. Or is trying to kill you."

Shikaku could have smacked himself for putting that look on her face as she took another step away from him.

"I'm afraid there's nothing I can do to change it short of going out and finding somebody willing to teach me, which, sorry, isn't really my thing. Obviously. Otherwise, I wouldn't be..."

He stepped forward and pulled her stiff body against him in a hug.

"There will be no teaching unless I'm the one doing it," he said in a hard voice, and she flinched in surprise. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it as a slight against you. I was actually feeling like a lecherous old pervert for finding it so goddamn arousing that I'll practically be your first."

"I- what? You mean you don't think I'm immature, or -" Hari started, sounding bewildered, and he chuckled.

"No," he purred, leaning down so he could speak into her ear. "I'm a bit of a possessive bastard, so the thought of my hands and mouth being the only ones you remember..."

She shivered, then took a step back.

"Oh," she said in a small voice.

"Yes," he agreed. "Should we continue on?"

He offered her his arm, sensing that she was feeling a little overwhelmed, and she took it.

After some nervous fidgeting on her part, she finally spoke again.

"So you're okay with moving more slowly on that front than you usually would?"

"Well, I can't say I won't be thinking about it, but I'm fine with any pace you set princess," he said easily, and she quirked her lips up in a small smile.

On the porch, Hari gathered her courage, then stood on her tiptoes to brush her lips against his cheek.

"Thank you, Shikaku-san. I enjoyed myself very much."

She then slipped inside without looking at his face, relieved when he didn't immediately follow. Removing her shoes, she ghosted silently to the guest rooms, a smile breaking over her face at the scene she came upon.

"Oi, brat, that's cheating!" Shikamaru said, pointing at a giggling Natsu over the board game they were playing.

"No, I swear Shikamaru-niisan! I just won!"

Eito was laughing at Shikamaru's exaggerated face of disbelief at his loss.

"Natsu, are you making your nii-san cry?" Hari asked, and both of their heads whipped towards her.

"Aneki! You're home!" Natsu squealed, and she had to brace herself as they flung themselves forward for a hug.

"Did you behave yourself for Shikamaru?" she asked them, but her eyes were on the older boy, who nodded as they loudly declared they had been 'the best' for nii-san.

"Well, I'm glad to hear it. Now, it's time for you to get ready for bed, go on,"

She ignored their protests and shoo'ed them towards the bathroom.

"Thanks for watching them," she said, dropping into a chair, and he shrugged from where he was putting the game away.

"They're fun, if a little troublesome," he said, and she laughed.

After he'd left and she was lying in bed with one child on each side - and she was really going to have to make them sleep in their own beds soon - Hari went over the conversation she'd had with Shikaku in her head, and a small smile played across her face.

Dinner had been nice. She enjoyed making conversation with Shikaku, and she really, really, enjoyed the physical attention he gave her. She might be a little inexperienced, but she recognized appreciation when she saw it, and Shikaku had plenty for her.

Not only that, but he was taking the time to get to know her and make her comfortable. The tours with the twins, taking her out on a date, asking her what she wanted - these were all signs that he wanted the same things she did. Hari fell asleep feeling better than she had in a long time.

000

They went on two more dates that week, and Shikaku made it to dinner almost every other night, listening with apparent interest as Natsu and Eito told him about their days in minute detail.

He'd assigned Rai-san to be her guide for her morning runs, and she couldn't decide if he was trying to be nice to her by assigning somebody she already knew, or punishing Rai-san for letting her run all over the compound that first day. Either way, she enjoyed the girl's company.

Eito and Natsu had taken to waiting for her to return on the front steps and then joining her in her stretches. After a visit from Ino, her ribs and shoulder were also well enough to ease back into the rest of her routine, which involved moving through the punches, kicks, and rolls taught to every Auror. The twins had demanded she teach them years ago, and they made an adorable sight with their little faces scrunched up in concentration as they did kicks and punches in tandem with her.

Shikaku had stepped out on the porch one morning with a cup of tea and grinned at their little group. Rai was laying on the grass a few feet away, eyes half-lidded, and she waved lazily to him clan head. Deciding now was their chance to show off for the man, who they had developed a bit of hero-worship for after hearing stories from Shikamaru and his team, Eito and Natsu glanced at each other before pouncing at Hari's back.

Sensing their attack, she dropped to the ground and they both went sailing over her head and landed in a tangle of limbs and Natsu's long hair. Hari sat back and laughed as they extricated themselves, and with a war cry, Natsu pounced on her. Hari leaned back and grabbed onto the girl's forearms as she rolled, then placed her feet into Natsu's abdomen and lightly flipped her over her head.

Natsu yelped but tucked into a ball - just the way Hari'd taught her - and did a controlled roll when she hit the ground, bouncing up onto her feet and looking smug. Eito was next, and Hari chose to spring off the ground and evade him. After a few minutes, the twins decided to work in tandem, and the whole thing ended with the three of them wrestling around on the ground until Hari finally yielded, laughing breathlessly up at the sky from where they had her pinned to the ground - Eito sitting on her legs and Natsu on her stomach.

"Ah, so you have two little warriors, here," Shikaku said as his amused face appeared above her and blocked out the sky.

She gave him a bright smile, breathing in the cool morning air and enjoying the burn in her muscles.

"Yep, they're certainly terrifying," she said with another laugh as he lifted the protesting children off of her and offered his hand.

She wiped the sweat from her palm onto her pants, then took it. He lifted her easily and Hari felt a small thrill go through her at how strong he was.

"Maa, maa, you can't blame me for saving my fiancé from a couple of ruffians," Shikaku said in response to the twins' complaining.

He gave her hand a small squeeze before letting go of it and turning to them.

"Now, I got a message from a certain blonde hero who asked if he could take the three of you out into the village today," Shikaku said, and their eyes lit up.

"Naruto-san is coming over?" Natsu squealed, and then looked down at her dirty, wrinkled clothes and eeped.

"I need to go get ready!" she yelled, then grabbed Eito's hand and tugged him into the house.

Shikaku raised an eyebrow, and Hari covered a giggle with her hand. And since when did she giggle, anyway?

"Ah, Natsu might have a teeny, tiny crush on Naruto-san," she explained, and he laughed.

Hari twitched a little at the sound, because it was nice, and shrugged. "I'm guessing she's not the only one."

"Oh?" he purred, and stepped closer to her, putting a large hand on her hip. "You think he's handsome, then?" he asked, and she blinked up at his glinting eyes.

"Uh...I suppose so, though I was actually referring to his hero status. I know from experience that it tends to grab the attention of the opposite sex." she paused. "And the same sex, actually."

He huffed out a breath of air.

"Well, princess, I won't keep you from your fans, then," he teased. "I was hoping you and I could discuss the marriage contract this evening. Tsunade-sama would like a signed copy on her desk in the next few days."

She didn't miss the way his sharp eyes were taking in her reaction.

"Sure. We should probably talk about the actual ceremony, too. Whatever we decide, we have to at least make sure Natsu gets to act as flower girl. She was very insistent," Hari said seriously and was rewarded with another rumbling laugh.

"Then I'll see you tonight, princess."

He grabbed her hand and brought it to his lips, and her cheeks heated under his intense stare. She just nodded, not trusting her voice to stay steady, and then he was gone.

"Wow," Rai said from her spot on the grass, and Hari jumped and spun around - she'd forgotten Rai was there.

"I guess I can assure our clan that Shikaku-sama isn't as useless with women as we'd started to fear. Now we can cancel the intervention," she said with a yawn.

"Intervention?" Hari asked, brow furrowing in confusion, and Rai opened one eye to look at her.

"Well, yeah, everybody's heard about your disaster of a first meeting, and he wasn't exactly at his most charming with you the other day. Some of the women in the clan were getting ready to pull him aside and give him a lecture on the proper way to court a lady. I'll give you a preview: calling your intended stupid doesn't make the list," she said wryly, and Hari laughed.

"Well, he did send me some very nice flowers after, and took me out on a lovely date that evening," she said, and Rai hummed.

"I heard," the girl said. "If he gives you any more trouble, just let me know."

"Ah, so you're a spy," Hari said as she trotted up the steps of the back porch.

"I prefer 'information gatherer,'" Rai called, and Hari grinned.

000

Hari had to convince Natsu that she probably didn't want to wear one of her best kimonos for a day traipsing around the village. After much cajoling and pleading, she got her into her second-best yukata and leggings. Hari put on black leggings and a kimono-style blouse that hid her wand and holster under long sleeves and braided her still-damp hair back.

Naruto showed up when she was still making breakfast and cheerfully accepted her invitation to eat with them. Shikaku brushed his lips across her cheek and patted the twins on the head on his way out, causing her to blush and Natsu to scowl as he messed up the bun she'd spent half an hour getting perfect.

"Thanks for agreeing to spend the day with us," Hari said as she set a plate in front of him. "Shikamaru's been keeping us company, but he left for a mission last night."

"No problem, Hari-san. I'm looking forward to it. Hey, this good!" he said around a mouthful of rice, and he reminded her so much of Ron that her smile faltered. Luckily, he was looking down at his breakfast and didn't notice.

They left a few minutes later, the twins both racing ahead and then stopping to wait impatiently for the adults to catch up.

"You were on a mission the past few weeks?" Hari asked, ignoring Eito's scowl at their pace.

"Yep!" Naruto said, putting both hands behind his head with his elbows out and turning his face to the sun.

"Granny Tsunade has me handling most of the diplomatic missions. It's boring but super important," he said earnestly, and Hari nodded.

"It's better to avoid a fight through diplomacy. I'm sure after the war everyone's more willing to talk first and attack later."

He nodded seriously as they entered the town proper.

"Hey Natsu, Eito," Naruto called, and they skipped over to him from where they'd become distracted by a cat laying in the sun. "Would you like to meet some kids your age? I usually visit them when I get back from missions, and I'm sure they'd like to meet a real live prince and princess!"

Both of them brightened - the past two years they hadn't had many opportunities to interact with other children since the attempts on their lives began. Hari smiled at him in thanks, and he beamed back. He led them through a few twists and turns until they came to a large house with a sign on it that gave Hari pause. Konoha Children's Home.

"This is -" Hari said, but was cut off as the front door flew open and a child dressed in white pants and a blue long-sleeved shirt flew down the steps and rammed into Naruto.

"Naruto-nii!" the boy yelled, and Naruto laughed and flung him into the air. Soon, the yard was full of eager children crying out for his attention.

"Where were you?" An adorable girl with pigtails and a missing front tooth asked. "Were you beating up Zetsus?"

He held up his hands as he was inundated with questions. Natsu and Eito had pulled back and were watching the other children shyly.

"Woah, woah, calm down! And I went to talk to one of our allies. We had a little misunderstanding over my friends over here," he said, jerking his thumb in their direction, "and I had to smooth it out."

"You mean Iwa?" Hari asked, feeling a little bad about causing an international incident.

"Yeah, but once they found out you're a princess that's going to marry into one of our clans, they calmed down," he said, and suddenly a dozen pairs of eyes were studying her.

Hari smiled and crouched down, pulling Eito and Natsu out to stand beside her.

"Hello, my name is Hayano Hari, and these are my siblings Eito and Natsu. We're very pleased to meet you."

"Are you really a princess? You're pretty enough to be one, I guess," the girl with a missing tooth said skeptically, and Naruto came to stand beside her.

"Believe it! Natsu's a princess, too, and Eito's a prince." Hari smiled at their awed expressions.

"Now," Naruto continued, looking serious, and all of the orphans straightened as though they were his little soldiers coming to attention. "Eito and Natsu are new to town and could use some friends. Can I count on you to take care of them?"

There were cheers and yells of "You can count on us!" as Natsu and Eito were surrounded and swept off by a wave of children.

"Naruto-nii, let's play ninja!" one of them called, and he made a show of thinking about it.

"I don't know..." he said, and they groaned. "Maybe...I suppose, if Hari-hime can play with us, then I don't mind."

"Yeah! The princess can play, we don't mind!" one of them called.

Hari spent the next hour in a tree, being protected by her 'ninja-knights' as the evil black and white Zetsus tried to kidnap her. She watched Naruto get bored down to the ground by a group of screaming children led by Natsu and the pig-tailed girl, whose name was Chiasa.

The game wound down after Naruto had been defeated, and he helped her down from the tree.

"Aneki!" Natsu called breathlessly as she ran over to her, followed by a gaggle of dirty and smiling children. "Can you do the bubble therapy game? Please?" she begged, and Hari hummed.

"Well...that depends," she said, sitting down cross-legged on the grass and releasing her wand into her hand, studying it.

"Depends on what?" Chiasa said suspiciously, and Hari smiled.

"Well, on if you believe in magic, of course," she said, and the girl scoffed.

"Please, magic isn't real," she said but looked unsure at Hari's raised eyebrow.

"It is!" Natsu said. "My sister is a witch, and that's her magic wand!"

"I don't believe you," Chiasa said with a sniff, and Hari saw that tears were imminent if she didn't intervene.

"Well, I can't blame you for not believing without proof," she said thoughtfully. "I could show you if you'd like."

Naruto was watching silently with his usual grin in place next to her, and Chiasa crossed her arms over her chest and shrugged.

"Let's see it then."

Giving her a solemn nod, Hari held her wand out and gave it a swish. Large multicolored bubbles flowed from the end and started bobbing around the yard, and were met with delighted shrieks. She'd learned the charm from a mom of one of the other children at Teddy's playgroup when she was watching him full time, and it was always a hit.

"Told you!" Natsu said happily. "You're supposed to pop them - but they're hard to catch!"

To prove her point she dove at a bubble, which bobbed out of reach. Soon the yard was filled with screeching children as they raced after the bubbles. When the first one popped and exploded into a cascade of sparkles, there was a hush for a moment before somebody whispered, "She really is a magical princess." Hari had to hide a laugh behind her hand.

Ten minutes later she had refreshed the bubble supply and children were darting around, shrieking in delight at every explosion of sparkles.

Eventually, Naruto jumped up and started waving excitedly at something behind her. Hari twisted around from where she was sending more bubbles out of the end of her wand to see Chouji, a large woman that looked like she might be related to him, and a young girl in the waitress uniform Hari recognized from the Akimichi restaurants she'd visited standing at the edge of the lawn, staring around them, arms full of metal pans.

"Everyone!" one of the children yelled. "Chouji-san and his mom brought lunch again!"

There was a loud cheer and Hari's bubbles were abandoned at the sight of food. Amused, she flicked her wand and the bubbles all disappeared in a shower of glitter that dissipated before hitting the ground.

The two mistresses of the orphanage, who had been watching the spectacle from the front porch, hurried over to take the stacked pans of barbecue from their hands. The waitress bowed and left as soon as her hands were free.

"Akimichi-sama, Chouji-san, thank you so much for providing lunch for the kids today," the kind-looking elderly mistress said when Naruto waved off her attempt to grab a pan and picked it up himself.

"Oh, it's no trouble!" the older Akimichi said cheerfully. "We like feeding the little rugrats every once in a while. Figured Naruto would be here this morning since he's just gotten back into town, too."

"Still, it makes their day every time," she demurred, then turned to the children. "Okay, everybody, we'll be eating outside today - go wash your hands, then take a seat at the picnic tables out back!"

All of the children ran to do what they were told, but Natsu and Eito stopped, unsure, to look at Hari.

"Of course you four are joining us," the mistress said gently, and Hari bowed.

"Thank you, mistress-san, we'd be honored," she replied, and the woman waved her off as Chiasa dragged the twins after her to wash their hands.

"Please, call me Utano, Hayano-hime," she said.

"Ah, then you must call me Hari," she said with a small smile.

The woman smiled and ambled off to prepare lunch and Hari stepped forward to hug Chouji.

"Chouji-san, hello! How are you feeling?" she asked, and he smiled.

"Ah, Hari-san, I'm good thanks. This is my mother, Akimichi Tame," he introduced, and Hari bowed.

"It's very nice to meet you, Akimichi-sama. Your son is very brave and strong - he protected my siblings well on the trip from Fruit Country."

The woman smiled at her, eyes crinkling in the corners where there were orange markings.

"Tame is fine, dear. So you're the woman that had Shikaku scaring off my male staff last week," she said cheerfully, and Hari blinked at her in confusion as Naruto demanded details.

"Apparently one of the busboys let his eyes wander a bit when they were at one of our restaurants for dinner, and Shikaku glared him down. The poor boy refused to go even close to the section until you left," she said, and Hari's cheeks immediately turned red. Had that happened? She hadn't even noticed.

She ignored Naruto's loud laughter and Chouji's soft chuckles and entered an easy conversation with Tame on Konoha cuisine, and the best places to shop for fresh food that carried them through lunch.

Afterward, they waved goodbye to the orphans, who were heading in for quiet time, and set off for Konoha again. Eito and Natsu were chattering on about the friends they made, and Hari impulsively hugged Naruto, stopping them in the middle of the busy market street for a moment.

"Thank you," she said. "They really needed that."

He blushed and waved her thanks away.

"Well, I go a lot - I'm sure the kids would love it if their Hari-hime visited, as well," he teased, and she rolled her eyes.

Naruto had given into the twins' sad eyes and was buying them ice cream cones at a stand while Hari idly watched a group of civilians as they worked on rebuilding what looked like a block of apartments across the street. Eito always took forever to come to a decision on flavor, so she wandered closer to get a good look at the pulley system they were using to haul a large beam up about twenty feet towards two men and a woman hanging from ropes, ready to secure it in place.

She was about ten feet away when there was a cry of alarm, and Hari's eyes widened as one of the planks on the pulley system cracked, and one end of the beam dropped dangerously. Hari's eyes darted around the crowded street, and she bit her lip as the pulley started buckling. If that large of a beam fell, somebody would probably get hurt. Just as the pulley finally gave and a litany of shouts broke out, Hari released her wand and pointed it at the beam.

"Wingardium Leviosa!" she said, and sighed in relief as the beam raised into the air, ropes now slack.

She then blinked when she noticed the street around her had gone quiet, and people were staring at her.

"Er," she said. "This is sort of heavy, so...if you could maybe tell me where to set it down...?" she said to the person in charge, who stared before getting ahold of himself.

"Right, it's still got the ropes on it," he muttered, frowning up at it in thought.

"Ah, well, I could move it up to where you'd like to place it, and your team could secure it?" she suggested, and he nodded.

"If you think you can hold it, sure," he said.

Using hand signs, the workers hanging from ropes directed Hari until the beam was in the correct position, then quickly secured it. Hari released it with a sigh of relief and clicked her wand into place.

"Here's your ice cream, Aneki," Natsu said from behind her, and Hari turned with a smile and accepted her slightly-melted bowl.

"Mmm," she hummed in appreciation and waved the thanks off from the construction workers. "No problem, glad to help," she said cheerfully, and meant it - it was nice to use her magic for more than cleaning house and making bubbles.

"Hari-hime's pretty cool, eh?" Naruto said cheerfully to the man in charge, and he nodded.

"Well, if you ever want a job," he said gruffly and shoved a card at Hari, who took it, a little bewildered at the offer.

"Ah, thanks, I'll keep it in mind," she said, and then Eito and Natsu were pulling her along to the park.

They spent the afternoon lazing at the park, and only headed back when the shadows started lengthening. "I should start dinner soon," Hari said with a sigh, accepting a hand up from Naruto.

"Yeah, I should go check in with Sakura-chan," he said, stretching his hands over his head and yawning.

"Oh, the famous Sakura-chan," Hari teased as they made their way down the main street past the administration building that Naruto had pointed out to her on their way past.

"When do I get to meet the rest of team seven?" she asked, and he shrugged.

"Sakura's always busy at the hospital, and Sasuke's out on a mission right now. But maybe if I'm assigned to you tomorrow, too, we can stop by and meet her."

Natsu cheered - she was enamored with the image of a woman who could punch through walls. Eito looked interested, too, probably from the stories Ino had told about Sakura's medical jutsu, which he'd been fascinated with since Ino had healed his own wounds.

As they neared a fountain in a small square, Hari cocked her head to the side at the sound of familiar-sounding music. Frowning, she turned and made her way towards a small band that was playing for tips off to the side, Naruto and the twins trailing behind her.

"Huh," she said and had to smile as she realized why it sounded familiar.

"What?" Naruto asked, and she turned to him in excitement.

"This song - it reminds me of a type of dance I had to learn back home - you know, where I'm originally from," she said a bit wistfully, and he brightened.

"Oh! Show me!" he said, and Hari hesitated for a moment, then grabbed his hand and dragged him into an open spot.

Even after all these years, she could still remember McGonagall's voice as she forced Hari and Ron to do the steps over and over again in fourth year.

As she taught the steps of the waltz to Naruto, laughing as he stumbled through it the first few times, she was able to ignore the interested stares of the crowd.

"Right, it's one, two, three, one, two three - good!"

He spun her around dramatically, hand on her waist, and the band seemed willing to continue playing, adding small flourishes every time he pushed her out into a spin. Hari had to admit that Naruto caught on quick, though she shouldn't be surprised - after all, he spent countless hours training his body to do what he asked.

Eito and Natsu had joined and were happily spinning each other around, giggling every time they stepped on each other's toes.

"Hey, this is fun! I've never actually danced before!" Naruto said, then put both hands on her waist and lifted her feet off the ground so he could twirl her in the air.

She laughed and put her hands on his shoulders, once again being reminded of Ron when he got silly and would fling her and Hermione around after he'd hit his growth spurt.

A throat clearing to their right had them both looking over, and Hari beamed at a slouching Shikaku.

"Don't suppose I could cut in," he said], and Naruto solemnly held her out to him without putting her down, and she laughed again, feeling like her cheeks might fall off from how wide she was smiling.

Breathless, she smacked at him until he set her down, then turned and beamed up at Shikaku.

"Well?" she said as he just stared at her. "Generally when you cut in on a dance, you're expected to actually dance."

He grabbed her hand and pulled her in much closer than she'd been dancing with Naruto, who was now attempting a three-way dance with the giggling twins.

She placed one hand on his shoulder and the other in his open palm, blushing a little as his other hand slid around her waist to her lower back to pull her closer. "

Need a lesson?" she asked, and he raised an eyebrow, then fell into perfect step with her.

She knew they were drawing a bit of a crowd - it probably wasn't every day they saw the hero of their village and the jounin commander dancing in the street - but found she didn't mind much.

"Ah, yes, I forgot. You're a genius, or something, right?" she said, widening her eyes and tilting her head to the side in fake confusion.

He chuckled and pushed her out into a spin. When she came back, he leaned down closer to her ear so what he said would be private.

"You know, walking around the corner and seeing you dancing with another man - one you called handsome just this morning - was a little disconcerting."

Hari raised her eyebrow and gave Naruto, who now had a squealing twin on each shoulder and was spinning around yelling that he was 'the best dancer, believe it!' - a pointed look. Shikaku laughed.

"Okay, point taken," he said as he led her away from the crowd and towards the now-ecstatic musicians.

"What prompted this little dance session, anyway?" he asked.

"The beat sounded like something I'd danced to back where I'm from," Hari admitted. "Naruto felt compelled to learn."

He gave her an enigmatic look and hummed, pulling her a bit closer. She swallowed, hyper-aware of where their bodies were touching - his palm on her lower back, their entwined hands, and where her breasts, stomach, and thighs brushed up against him. He met her eyes and her breath caught at the intensity there. He pulled her a closer, and her lips parted as she leaned forward minutely and tipped her head back.

He stopped dancing and gently pushed her back.

"Sorry, sweetheart, but if we keep going like this, I can't guarantee I won't do something that will ruin your reputation."

Her eyes widened and she felt her cheeks heat.

"Well, who says I care about my reputation," she blurted, and he groaned but didn't pull her back in.

"You're not making this easy, princess," he said, then turned and strolled to the open violin case where there was already a small pile of money, and added a generous amount.

She put her palms on her cheeks to will the heat away, then turned to Naruto and the girls.

"Alright, guys, time to get home. Naruto-san, I think Shikaku will be walking us home, so you're free to go see Sakura-san," she said.

Eito and Natsu groaned in disappointment as their playmate waved goodbye and promised to come back in the morning after Shikaku told him Tsunade had okayed him for the second day of protection detail. They cheered and Hari rolled her eyes but smiled at their happy faces.

Shikaku ignored the crowd that was only now dispersing and wrapped an arm around Hari's waist and allowed Natsu to shyly grab onto his free hand. Hari held hers out for Eito, who took it without complaint, and they let Shikaku lead them away from the square.

"Tell me about your day," he said, and the twins were off.

He raised his eyebrows while they told him about their morning at the orphanage, but asked questions in the appropriate places, and laughed when he found out Hari spent an hour in a tree playing princess. Hari watched it all with a small smile, having to breath deeply past the warmth in her chest. Shikaku was really making an effort with the twins, and it made Hari feel...well, special. His arm around her waist and the glances and soft smiles he kept sending her way just added to it.

When he sent a questioning look her way after Eito bragged about how much the other children were impressed by his Aneki's magic bubbles, she gave him mischievous smile before waving her wand to create a few, and had to laugh at the suspicious look he gave them as they bobbed away into the trees lining the trail that lead to the Nara house.

"The woman who taught me that charm called it Bubble Therapy," Hari said as the bubbles popped into a shower of sparkles. "She used to say 'nobody can be sad when there are bubbles' when her kids were upset, and then she'd create some for them. It always put a smile on their faces."

"It doesn't sound like anybody was sad when you used them today, though," Shikaku said, smirking a bit.

She shrugged and looked at the trail ahead of them.

"They're orphans, they're always a little sad," she said in a quiet, knowing voice, and he tugged her a little closer to his side.

That night after dinner, when Hari sent the twins to play on their own in their heavily warded rooms, she followed Shikaku into his office, trying to build up the guts to do something she'd been thinking about for awhile.

He shut the door behind him, then turned to her.

"Well, princess, let me grab my copy of the contract and we can -"

He cut himself off when she stepped forward and put a hand on his scarred cheek. He hesitated when she stood on her tiptoes and leaned her head back in invitation. Unsure of her welcome when he didn't respond, she took a small step back and bit her lip, ready to apologize. His hands darted out and grabbed her hips, pulling her back in, and he dipped his head, softly pressing his lips to hers.

Her breath hitched and a shiver made its way down her spine at the feeling of his breath against her mouth as he leaned back. Unwilling to let him go, she reached up and put her arms around his neck, pulling him back into a kiss and arching her body against his. He groaned and slid one of his palms up her spine to bury his hand in her hair, holding her in place.

She opened her lips on a gasp, and he took it as an invitation, licking his way into her mouth. Hari's brain stuttered to a halt, and she pushed up into him, meeting his tongue hesitantly with her own. He took a few steps and she let him guide her until her back was against the wall, and he was pressed up against her from knees to chest. After a few minutes of languid kissing, she had to stop for air, and her head fell back against the wood panel.

Shikaku's lips trailed down her exposed throat and she gripped the back of his head and moaned as he sucked gently just below her ear, then flicked a tongue out to taste. Heat pooled in her abdomen, and she arched against him, pausing as her stomach came into contact with his groin. He stopped his ministrations and she stared, wide-eyed, at the ceiling for a moment, neither of them daring to move as she took in the feel of his hard length pressed against her.

"Sorry, princess - fuck," he bit out as she tentatively rubbed against him.

Her whole body warmed at his reaction, and she did it again, this time with more confidence, and his forehead thunked against the wood next to her head as his hands came down to her hips to still her movements.

She froze and darted a glance over at his profile. His eyes were clenched shut, and he was breathing in through his nose slowly, and out through his mouth.

"I'm sorry," she blurted, because she'd obviously done something wrong if she had put that look on his face.

It wasn't surprising, since she hadn't done a lot of making out before, but it was still mortifying. She made to slip out of his grasp, and he blinked his eyes open and looked at her, confused, but kept a hold on her hips so she couldn't get away.

Embarrassed, she stared at the far wall as he studied her. Finally, he sighed, and pulled her against him, ignoring her weak protests.

"I didn't stop because you were doing anything wrong, sweetheart," he muttered into her hair. "I stopped because I wasn't sure I'd be able to later if we kept going, and I'd rather our first time happened in a bed, post wedding-vows."

"Oh," she said in a small voice, and he chuckled into her ear, making her shiver and push against him involuntarily.

He took a shaky breath and stepped back, and she swayed towards him when she took in his rumpled appearance.

He swore and backed up until he was leaning against the desk.

"Everything about you is screaming that you want me to take you," he said in a low, rumbling tone, and Hari felt a little flush of pride at how shaky his voice sounded. "And I will, princess, but just...not right now."

She tilted her head to the side and narrowed her eyes, and he chuckled.

"If you're wondering if you can push me into doing it now, the answer's probably yes," he said. "But I'd really rather you didn't. For one thing, Tsunade expects you and I in her office with this contract first thing tomorrow. For another, Shikamaru will be very disappointed in me if I don't treat you with the utmost respect."

She rolled her eyes, but sat down in the extra chair in the room with a huff.

He chuckled softly and gave her a fond look that had her biting back a smile as he reached into a drawer and pulled out a familiar contract.

"Now then, let's just go over this and make sure we agree on everything."

He pulled his chair next to hers, and they spent the rest of the night with a respectful six inches between them.

The next day Hari appeared in the kitchen wearing a deep blue kimono with birds setting upon branches carefully sewn at the bottom hem and the cuffs of her sleeves. Her hair was pulled back into a twist and she had lined her eyes in black and tinted her lips a light pink. Naruto laughed outright at her put out expression, and both siblings sent her commiserative looks. Shikaku's heated look when he entered the kitchen, however, had her suddenly not minding the confining yards of fabric so much anymore.

She cleared her throat and took a sip of tea from where she was leaning against the counter, listening to the twins pepper Naruto with questions about their plans for the rest of the day. They were going to spend the morning at the orphanage again, and then hike up to the Hokage Monument.

"Do you two have your necklaces?" Hari asked them casually, and both obediently pulled out the little silver charms from under their shirts and showed them to her. Naruto and Shikaku moved closer to study them as Hari continued talking.

"And if you run into trouble, what do you do?"

"We run and find a good hiding spot -" Eito began.

"And wait for you to find us," Natsu finished.

"Very good," she said as Shikaku sent her a questioning look which she waved off.

"We'll show you this evening," she said to him, then turned back to give her siblings a serious look. "You two behave for Naruto-san. If I find out you were any trouble, you'll be confined to the house with just me tomorrow."

They nodded solemnly, and she gave them each a kiss on the top of the head in farewell before following Shikaku out the door. She chewed on her lip as they walked, feeling a little nervous about her upcoming meeting with the Godaime. By all accounts, she was an intimidating woman who wasn't a fan of other people's bullshit.

"You'll be fine," Shikaku said around a yawn from where he was strolling, hands in his pockets, next to her.

She just hummed in response, but stayed silent as they continued walking. When they reached the main street that led to the administration building, Shikaku motioned for her to stop for a moment. She raised her eyebrows as he stepped up to a stand and ordered a package of bite sized warm buns stuffed with ham and eggs.

"You didn't eat breakfast," he said gruffly, holding out the paper bag so she could reach in and pull out one of the pastries.

She looked down at it and had to chew on the inside of her cheek to keep the big, dorky smile playing at the edges of her lips from breaking out.

"Thank you, Shikaku-san," she said, glancing up at him through her lashes and popping the bun into her mouth.

He stared before clearing his throat and looking away, mumbling "troublesome" before shoving one of the buns into his own mouth. They walked the rest of the way in companionable silence, sharing the rest of their breakfast and watching Konoha wake up around them.

When they reached the administration building he tossed the now-empty bag into a garbage receptacle and wiped his hands on his pants before placing one in the small of her back and leading her upstairs. When they reached the top of the tower, they entered a large waiting room with a small, black haired woman with large round glasses sitting at the desk. She squinted at them before brightening.

"Ah, Shikaku-san, Tsunade-sama is expecting you! Please go right in."

He nodded and Hari let him lead her through the door into an office lined with bookshelves that were cluttered with scrolls and strange objects, and of course books. Seated behind a desk across from the door was a gorgeous blonde-haired woman in white robes and a frankly ridiculous hat. She looked up as they approached, and Hari gave a deep bow as Shikaku did a shallower one.

"Tsunade-sama, good morning," he said. "This is the Princess of Fruit Country, and my soon-to-be wife, Hayano Hari. Hari, Senju Tsunade, Godaime of Konoha."

"I am honored to meet you, Godaime-sama," Hari murmured from where she was still bowing.

"Stand up, kid, no need for that," a surprisingly deep voice said, and Hari straightened and met sharp brown eyes. "Well, I have to say, I expected you to be taller, from all the stories I've been hearing about how great you are," the woman said as she stood and walked around the desk so she could lean against it and face them.

Hari blinked for a minute, then said, "Likewise," and immediately regretted it.

The Hokage just let out a bark of laughter, and went to sit back down.

"Pull up a chair for yourself and your lady, Shikaku-san, and stop your hovering, I'm not going to break her," Tsunade said as she pushed aside some paperwork.

Shikaku easily picked up two chairs that were against the wall and placed them in front of the desk. Hari sat in one obediently, and Shikaku slumped down in the one next to her, close enough that their thighs brushed.

"Well, let's see the contract," Tsunade said impatiently, Shikaku pulled the sheaf of papers they'd both signed yesterday from his pouch and handed it over.

She set them on the desk without looking through them, and set her forearms on the surface, fingers intertwined, to give them her full attention.

"Did anything change from the original?" she asked, and Shikaku shook his head.

"No, it's still the same."

"Alright. Now, I'm afraid I'm going to need to get a little nosy here. First of all, when is the ceremony?" she said in a no-nonsense voice.

"Ah, we were thinking a week from today. We need to move fairly quickly due to Hayano Hibiki's failing health," Shikaku said, and ran an apologetic hand down Hari's arm when she flinched.

Tsunade's narrowed eyes followed the motion.

"I assume you'll want your son's and your own team available for this?" she asked, and Shikaku nodded.

"Of course," she mumbled. "We'll just have to hope we don't need anybody captured for a few days. Fine, anybody else I should try to keep in-village?"

Hari cleared her throat, and Tsunade's attention turned to her, which was a pretty uncomfortable thing.

"The twins and I have become very fond of Uzumaki Naruto," she said, and Tsunade snorted.

"You and the rest of the world. Fine, he'd probably cry at me if he couldn't be there, anyway. Is that all?"

Hari opened her mouth to say it was, then closed it as a thought hit her. "I don't suppose Hyuuga Neji would be available?"

Shikaku stiffened next to her, and Hari looked over at him in confusion. Did he not like Neji?

"Hmm, yes, he's due back in five days from a mission, so that should work. I didn't realize you two were close," she said suspiciously, and Hari shrugged.

"I found him very pleasant company when we met in Fruit Country," she said, and luckily Tsunade left it at that.

"Okay, now for the part where I get invasive," Tsunade said, and Shikaku huffed. "First of all - your bloodline limit. You seem to not have any problems with using it in public, if the reports of you saving half a dozen construction workers from a fiery death and creating bubbles that spurt candy and rainbows are true."

Hari let out a surprised laugh.

"Well, that's not exactly what happened, but, yes, I'm comfortable using it in the village, if that's what you mean."

Tsunade nodded, then sighed. "Well, I can't pretend I'm not interested in what you could do to help us, but you'll need to talk with Shikaku about how much the Nara clan is willing to let you do. You're a civilian under clan protection, which means I can't make you do anything without intervention from the Daimyo. Which I doubt he'd give."

Well, that was...blunt. Hari thought about that for a moment.

"I'm guessing that the more I make myself an asset to the village, the more protection I can expect," she said just as bluntly - hey, if Tsunade was going to set the tone, Hari wouldn't argue. She'd always been an upfront kind of person anyway, no matter how good she'd gotten at politics.

Tsunade inclined her head, and Shikaku spoke.

"We'll draw up a contract, let you know what Hari and the clan will expect in return for her services."

Tsunade didn't seem offended at this, so Hari relaxed.

"Fine - as soon as it's convenient after your honeymoon, which we're giving you a week for. Have fun. Now, whether you will be trying for children isn't specified in this contract."

She held up her hand when Shikaku took in a breath to respond.

"That's your business, but this bloodline limit of yours - people outside the village, and even in the village, will be interested. If you have children, they could become targets. From what Ino and Shikamaru reported, it's genetic, correct?"

Hari gave a short nod. "It is. It takes a lot of training to learn, though, and our cores aren't developed enough until around the age of eleven to start using it seriously. Also, unless our children can use my wand, their magic will be harder to access, and they'll have less control."

Shikaku looked over at her - she hadn't mentioned that to him yet. She shrugged at him and grimaced in apology.

"Once things settle down, I'll probably take some time to look into finding other ways to channel magic, but wandlore isn't my specialty, and neither is wandless magic. It'll probably be a learn-as-we-go situation. As for them being a target, there are things I can do to mitigate that. It's very difficult to hide a child from a magical parent if you aren't a wizard or witch yourself."

She said the last bit with a sharp grin.

They discussed a few details of the trade agreement before Tsunade dismissed them. To Hari's surprise, Shikaku had taken the day off to work on planning the ceremony with her, and they spent the next six hours trailing Shikaku's unofficial second-in-command for all things clan related around as he made them choose flowers, cake, and even clothing fabrics.

Nara Saku was a bit dour, but Shikaku assured her he was efficient and loyal. He'd been performing most of the duties Hari herself would be taking over as the lady Nara. She could tell she was being assessed by the man throughout the afternoon, but at the end of it had no idea what the verdict was.

"So you're close with Neji-san, huh? Wasn't he one of the candidates for your marriage?" Shikaku asked while they were taking a break for lunch.

She frowned at his tense posture. Was he actually jealous? The thought had her fighting back a smile.

"Um. Actually, I thought Shikamaru might like him to come along. They're good friends, I think," she said with a shrug, and he relaxed.

That evening she showed Shikamaru and Shikaku how the twins' necklaces worked. She had Shikamaru take them out to the forest, and then held out her arm for Shikaku.

"Hold onto it tight," she said with a grin, and he raised his eyebrow but did so.

She then closed her eyes, muttered a small spell, and turned in place, apparating the both of them to a clearing in the forest holding a shocked-looking Shikamaru and the twins. Shikaku let go of Hari's arm and staggered backwards, and she gave him a smug smile.

"Those charms mean I can locate whoever is wearing them and apparate - that's what we just did - straight to their side. Pretty useful, huh? On top of that, nobody can remove those necklaces but me and the holder, plus I've woven a spell into them called a Notice-Me-Not, which means nobody else will even see them there. Only a witch or wizard could counteract them, and, oh, look at that, I'm the only one here."

"You're so cool, Aneki!" Natsu said happily as the two Naras gaped at her, and she smiled.

"If you'd like, I can make one for you and Shikamaru," she said hesitantly.

Shikaku stiffened.

"I don't know how I feel about you creating something that might end in you appearing in the middle of a fight," he said slowly.

Hari pursed her lips but decided to let it go for the moment.

The rest of the week passed by in a bit of a blur of wedding planning. Two days before the ceremony Ino volunteered to take her to the fitting of her wedding kimono, and had brought her friend, Hyuuga Hinata, along with her.

Hari actually enjoyed the girl time, something she'd been low on for awhile. Hinata was soft spoken and sweet, but Hari discovered she had a spine of steel when the three of them were stopped on the street by a tall, beautiful kunoichi with short green hair and striking grey eyes.

Hari guessed she was in her early thirties. She was wearing form-fitting red shorts and a black halter top, her midriff covered by a layer of bandages. Her arm was in a cast, and she seemed overly thin, with dark circles under her eyes. The woman had obviously just been through something fairly trying.

"This is the princess I've heard so much about?" she scoffed, disbelief in every line of her body, and Hari frowned at her in confusion.

She was used to the interest she'd been drawing from villagers, and while some of them seemed suspicious, nobody had been outright hostile.

"Michi-san, hello," Ino said a bit cooly, and stepped closer to Hari's side, who remained silent under the woman's regard.

Hinata had also stepped forward, chin up and eyes steady on the woman before them, looking every inch the daughter of the head of a noble clan.

"Ino-chan," Michi said back, but her eyes never left Hari.

"Hmm, I have to say, when I turned down Shikaku's proposal a few months ago, I didn't expect to come back to him on the verge of marrying a civilian so young she's practically a child," she said thoughtfully, and gave a sharp smile when Hari's face lost some of it's color. "Oh, poppet, did he not tell you that you're his second choice? I suppose he must have been getting desperate. Well, maybe I'll do you a favor and get him to marry me instead - I've got, what, two days before you tie the knot? Plenty of time."

"You shame yourself," Hinata said in a steady voice next to her, and moved in front of Hari, who was reeling a bit from the information she'd just received.

"You've been through something terrible, Michi-san, so I will not demand satisfaction for the insult to my friend today. I won't be so lenient again."

Hari was vaguely impressed when Michi's eyes darted nervously to the side - Hinata must really be a badass, but the woman just scoffed.

"Don't worry, I won't bug your little princess again. She's not who I'm interested in, anyway."

She then turned on her heel and sauntered away, leaving Hari and the two kunoichi in the street.

Hari took a shaky breath and ignored the interested looks they were getting from bystanders - after all, it was midday and they were in a crowded shopping district. She smiled around gritted teeth at the two women, who were both looking a little worried, but didn't say anything in front of their audience.

They made their way to a teahouse and Hari took the time to breath deeply, determined to keep her temper under control. She had no reason to be upset - this was an arranged marriage, after all. He didn't owe her any explanations, even if he had left the small bit about being in love with somebody else out when they were getting to know each other.

After they were seated in the Hyuuga's private room at the teahouse and their drinks had arrived, Ino broke the silence.

"Hari, what she said..."

"Is it true?" Hari cut her off to ask.

The girl's expression was answer enough, and Hari set her cup down with more force than was strictly necessary.

"And you all didn't think to mention this when I was asking whether he'd be a good match for me?"

She felt incredibly stupid for feeling so betrayed - they were shinobi, lying was part of the package, but she couldn't help it. All of the hope she'd been harboring that this could be more than just a livable situation - that she could try to be happy - was crumbling around her.

"Hari, it's not the way she made it sound," Ino said gently as Hinata gave Hari a concerned look.

"He took me on a picnic yesterday, you know," Hari said, shakily taking a sip of tea.

"He smiled at me, and asked me what I thought would be good names for our children, and -" she cut herself off, not wanting to go into the way he'd kissed her, sweetly at first, and then with more energy, or how when he was laying over her while they made out like teenagers, she'd felt safe and cherished .

"He told me that he hadn't found anybody else he thought would be a good fit for him and his clan, and that he was hopeful when he heard about me."

Her breath stuttered. "I'm an idiot, I guess - I knew that he was a shinobi, trained in lying and manipulation, but I guess I had just hoped -" she swallowed, and pushed the heels of her hands to her eyes.

"Hari-san," Hinata said, and gently put a hand on her arm. "I'm sure Shikaku-san does care about you. He probably didn't want to make you feel unsure of his affections, and that's why he didn't tell you about Michi-san."

"And what about Shikamaru? And Naruto-san? And...and Ino and Chouji-san?"

She lowered her hands and stared steadily at the Yamanaka, who wasn't meeting her gaze.

"I guess you all must have thought a princess was a pretty big coup for your clans, and you'd just humor me to keep me happy. Well," she said a little bitterly, "I can tell you that right now, I am not happy."

Unable to keep her cool anymore, she stood abruptly.

"I need to go figure out what I'm going to do if Shikaku decides to go back to his plan A."

She released her wand into her hand and turned on her heel, apparating to the front porch of the empty Nara house.

Hari immediately headed for her rooms, locking herself in, and allowed herself a good cry.

Then she washed her face and gave herself a very nice pep talk. So she didn't get the fairy tale romance she'd wanted. That was okay. The contract didn't demand that she even sleep with Shikaku, so they could be glorified roommates if that's what she wanted. It wasn't, but she also didn't want to be in the position where she was in love with somebody who didn't love her back, which was where she was currently heading, unfortunately.

Hari sat on the floor and closed her eyes, going through the breathing exercises she'd been taught as an auror to help her keep her emotions under control. When she felt like she could face the world without crying, she calmly made her way to the kitchen and started dinner, keeping her thoughts from wandering too close to the gorgeous kunoichi she'd met that day.

Shikamaru wandered in with the twins about half an hour later, and Hari made sure to smile at them as they came to greet her, and listen with interest as they talked about their day. She felt Shikamaru's gaze on her as she told Natsu about her kimono. Natsu had focused on the wedding with a single-minded ferocity that was a little concerning. Hari knew it was a distraction from the homesickness both children were feeling, made worse by the letters Naruto had helped them exchange yesterday with Hibiki via his toads.

Hari was just relieved she'd written her reply telling him how satisfied she was with the match yesterday, when it was still true. Hibiki had always been able to see straight through her, after all. After a while, Natsu dragged Eito into the family room to play a board game, and Shikamaru walked over to lean against the counter next to her.

"Ino came to talk to me after you left today," he said in a calm voice, and Hari's hands stilled before going back to cutting peppers.

"Oh?" she said, and kept her eyes down.

Shikamaru sighed and laid a hand over hers to stop the motion.

"Hari, I know what this must look like..." he began, and she jerked away from him and moved to the fridge, opening it and grabbing a brick of tofu.

"Really?" she said steadily as she unwrapped the plastic covering. "Because it looks like you deliberately misled me so that I'd agree to marry into your clan. Quite a dowry you got out of it," she said, then took a deep breath to calm herself down.

"You must have thought I was quite the little idiot, talking about starting a family, and finding somebody that might actually make me -" she squeezed her eyes shut as she heard him step closer to her, and forced her mind back into blankness.

She then turned and gave him a bland look.

"Dinner will be done in about forty-five minutes, Shikamaru-san. I'll call you when it's ready," she said in a no-nonsense voice, ignoring the concerned face he was making.

Hari then turned away in a clear dismissal, and breathed out silently in relief when he left the kitchen.

They were just sitting down when Shikaku got home, looking a little out of sorts. His hair wasn't exactly windblown, but it also wasn't perfectly put together, either, and he seemed out of breath. His gaze was intense and there was no sign of his customary slouch as stared at Hari, sitting blank faced at the table.

"Um...welcome home, Shikaku-san," Eito said timidly, and his eyes darted over to the boy, breaking him from his trance.

"Ah, thank you Eito." he cleared his throat awkwardly, and Shikamaru slouched down further into his seat.

"Hari, may I speak to you alone for a moment?" he asked as she calmly swallowed a bite of stir fry.

"You should sit down and eat, Shikaku-san," she intoned. "Before dinner gets cold."

His jaw tensed, and Eito and Natsu's eyes were darting between the two of them, sensing that something was going on beneath the surface. Shikamaru was staring down miserably at his plate, obviously wishing he was anywhere else.

"It's important," he said after a moment.

"Oh?" Hari said a bit sharply. "Is anyone dying? Maimed? Does the Hokage need me? No? Then it can wait. Sit down and eat, Shikaku-san. We'll talk later."

Not having anything to say back to that, he walked over and took a seat at the table, stiffly reaching for food to fill his plate. Hesitantly, Natsu and Eito began filling Shikaku in on their day, as was now habit, and Shikaku, though distracted, did his best to nod along and ask questions. Hari's food felt heavy in her stomach, but she forced herself to continue to take calm bites and ignore the fury and hurt moving through her.

"Thank you for dinner, Aneki, it was very good," Eito said quietly when they had been excused, Shikamaru hot on their heels as they went to play in the field behind the house.

Silently Hari activated the cleaning spell for the kitchen, and then followed Shikaku to his office, trying not to remember the last time they'd been in the room.

She turned and faced him, arms crossed over her chest, after he shut the door. Shikaku stood for a moment studying her, hands hanging at his sides, looking more uncomfortable than she'd ever seen him before. After a while, he spoke.

"An old friend came to see me today," he began, and Hari snorted, her lips turning up into a humorless smile.

"Michi-san, I assume?" she said casually, and he inclined his head.

"She told me she'd spoken to you earlier today."

Suddenly tired of whatever game they were playing, Hari dropped her arms and deflated.

"Listen, if you want to cancel the wedding, you just need to say so," she said quietly.

"I - what?" Shikaku said, sounding off balance, and she took a deep breath.

"If you think I'll be okay with you marrying me and having a - a mistress on the side, well, I'm sorry, but that's just not going to happen."

Hari knew she was starting to sound pissed off, but couldn't help it. Damn her temper, anyway.

"I know it'll be a little embarrassing for you to back out, but, hey, maybe she can just get a kimono made and take my place in the ceremony, it's already planned, after all, and your elders get what they want and you get to be with the woman you love. I'm sure that Inuzuka will still take me -"

He crossed the room in two long strides and grabbed her shoulders, giving them a small shake.

"I don't want to marry Michi, or take her on as a - a mistress," he said in a low furious voice. "And if that little Inuzuka twerp even thinks about it, I'll kill him."

Hari blinked up at his incensed face in shock.

"But two months ago, you were proposing to her, and now you're what, enamored with me?"

She scoffed and wrenched out of his hold, tears burning in the back of her throat.

"You lied to me!" she yelled. "You said there was nobody else, and then you pretended to actually give a shit, and the whole time you were probably wishing I was Michi -"

"I didn't lie," he said, raising his voice over hers, and she cut off - she'd never heard him raise his voice.

"I didn't lie," he said in a calmer tone. "Michi and I have been friends for a long time. After Yoshino died, we started a more physical relationship -" Hari flinched and inched away from him, and he moved towards her in an aborted movement, then seemed to think better of it.

"But it was never anything more than that. When I asked her, it was only because I was tired of the clan elders pressuring me to remarry. I respected her enough that I thought she'd do an alright job with the clan responsibilities, even if I wasn't thrilled at the prospect of marrying her. She declined, as she's never been interested in being tied to a clan or marriage, and we parted amicably. I wasn't upset, and our friendship stayed intact."

Hari studied him through narrowed eyes, thinking about what he'd said. It sounded reasonable, but - "Why didn't you tell me?"

He shrugged helplessly. "I didn't think it was important. I've also been told it's in poor taste to talk about your exes when you're courting somebody."

"People knew," she said, and he huffed.

"My son knew, since I asked him if it was alright if I asked first. I'm guessing he told his team, since they're his friends. But that's it."

He stepped towards her, and she twitched back. After spending the day brooding about his omission, and then hearing about his physical relationship with another woman - no matter how in the past it was - the last thing Hari wanted was for him to touch her.

"I wish you had told me," she said quietly, and he looked at her steadily. "Being blindsided like that was...humiliating."

"I know, I'm sorry," he said, and she saw it was sincere.

She looked away from him.

"So you don't want to cancel the marriage?" she clarified, and he shook his head.

"And you aren't secretly in love with somebody else?" another head shake. "Okay then. I'll see you in the morning, I suppose."

She ignored the pleading look on his face as she slipped out of the room and headed for the guest chambers, relieved when she saw Eito and Natsu were already there.

"You can go, Shikamaru, I'll put up the wards," Hari said quietly, and avoided his gaze.

With a dramatic sigh he stood and left, and she closed the door after him, putting up her wards with a sense of relief.

She played a game with the twins before helping them get ready for bed, then drew herself a bath and grabbed a book, intent on relaxing and forgetting about the whole humiliating day for awhile.

The next morning the three Hayano siblings were hit with the smell of burning eggs when they stepped into the hall. Exchanging confused glances, they made their way to the kitchen, and stopped short at what they found. A harried-looking Shikaku and pouting Shikamaru were standing over the stove, arguing over who had set the timer for the rice as Shikamaru held a plate out for Shikaku, who was spooning clumped grains onto it.

"Um," Hari said, and they both whipped around with identical, panicked looks on their faces.

"Hari!" Shikamaru said, and held out the plate in his hand. "We made breakfast this morning, so that you could take a break."

Hari and the twins stared at the burned eggs, congealed rice, and brown...something on the plate. Eito, ever the polite one, reached out and took it from Shikamaru.

"Ah, thank you, this looks...delicious," he said around a pained smile, and walked to the table with the air of somebody going to their execution.

When Hari and Natsu were seated with their own plates of breakfast, Hari took a small bite, and forced herself to swallow it.

The twins also took a few unenthusiastic mouthfuls, and when the Naras turned away to scrub at the dishes, Hari took in her siblings' pleading faces and surreptitiously waved her wand, and half of the food on each plate disappeared. She winked at their relieved faces, and all three of them smiled at Shikamaru when he bustled over to refill Hari's tea and the twins' juice.

After their odd breakfast Shikamaru took them to the market, where Hari bought apples for herself and the twins to eat.

"For dessert, nii-san!" Natsu told him cheerfully, and Hari had to hide her smile.

When she had finished picking out fish for dinner and a few root vegetables that were in season to roast, Shikamaru appeared in front of her with a green, soft scarf that reminded Hari of cashmere.

"I saw this and thought you might like it," he said casually, and shoved it at her until she took it, bewildered.

"It's the same color as your eyes," he mumbled, then went to save a merchant selling live lobster from the twins' curiosity.

"What in the world," Hari mumbled, tucking the soft scarf around her neck. One hour and three strangely sweet gestures later, she'd had enough.

"Oh my god, you're forgiven, just...stop! People are going to think we're in some weird love triangle with your father," Hari muttered to Shikamaru, who slouched in relief.

"I didn't mean to hurt you, or manipulate you," he muttered. "I knew dad didn't really want to marry Michi-san, he only asked her because he'd given up. You were a much better choice."

Hari watched as Natsu climbed to the top of a swingset, slowly straightening from a crouch to stand proudly and cackle at the gaping children below.

"I know you didn't. I shouldn't have snapped at you. I just thought..."

"That we'd all conspired to keep it from you so you'd marry into the Nara clan?" he said lightly, and she shrugged, because yeah, that's basically what she'd thought.

"Well, I've been accused of worse," he said, and she rolled her eyes.

"Does this mean you've forgiven dad?" He watched Natsu dive off the swingset to lay out two children who'd been taunting Eito with a wince, and Hari sighed.

"I don't really have a right to be angry in the first place, do I?" she said softly, then gave a sharp whistle to get the twins' attention as Eito started rubbing mud in the faces of their enemies, shaking her head and miming for them to let the boys go.

They pouted but did so, and she rolled her eyes as Natsu 'accidentally' stepped on the hand of one of them as they sauntered off.

"I don't know about that," Shikamaru said mildly. "He probably should have mentioned it, at least. Though, I am surprised she made a scene. Michi-san is a little aggressive, but she isn't usually quite so..."

"Bitchy?" Hari said in amusement, but looked over in interest, wanting more information on the woman but not wanting to ask outright.

Shikamaru obviously knew what she was doing, but also seemed willing to play along.

"Yeah. Her last mission went sideways, and some bad things happened to her. It's no excuse for what she did, but I think she's not adjusting well," he said.

Hari hummed but didn't comment, instead moving to intercept Natsu as she stalked the two boys they'd been fighting with earlier.

When they arrived to the house for lunch, Hari stopped at the gate and gaped.

"What -" she started, as Natsu and Eito gasped in delight and Shikamaru chuckled.

"Man, he really went all out," he said.

Hari stared at the hundreds of bubbles floating up into the air from what must have been ten bubble machines scattered throughout the yard. The twins were dashing about trying to pop them, and Shikamaru looked at her from the side of his eyes.

"He really wants this work," he said softly. "So please be patient with him."

Then he was groaning as he caught sight of Natsu clambering up the drainpipe to get to the bubbles higher up in the air, a nervous-looking Eito right behind her. He dashed over to them, but Hari's eyes were pulled to the front porch, where Shikaku was holding a large bouquet of flowers in one hand and a picnic basket in the other.

Slowly, she walked up the stone walkway and onto the steps until she was standing in front of him.

"Are those for me?" she asked lightly, and he cleared his throat.

"Yeah. I was also hoping that you and the twins would join me for a picnic," he replied.

She hummed and took the flowers from him.

"And the bubbles?" she asked, turning to study the glinting, floating spheres as they bobbed peacefully across the lawn.

"Well, somebody told me that it was impossible to be sad when bubbles were involved," he said. "Since I'm the one who made you upset, it's the least I could do."

Eito ran screaming past the porch, holding what looked like Shikamaru's favorite pen in one hand as the jounin followed after him at a more sedate pace, looking tragic and surprising a laugh out of Hari. She shoved her nose into the flowers, and realized she'd forgiven the stupid man standing awkwardly next to her with a basket of food. Bubble therapy, indeed.

"I suppose a picnic doesn't sound too bad," she said loftily, and glanced over at his face, which had broken into his half smile.

They shut off the bubble machines, and she blinked when he signaled at some trees and Rai and another Nara appeared to start gathering them up. Rai waved cheerfully at her and Hari waved back.

"This seems like an abuse of power," she muttered at him, and was rewarded with his warm, rumbling laughter.

"Nonsense. Considering three of my clanswomen, including Rai, showed up to scold me for being an idiot in my office this morning, I'd say they were happy to help," he said wryly.

"Ah, so you finally pushed them into that intervention," Hari said, and gave him an enigmatic smile in response to his questioning look.

He snorted, and called the twins and Shikamaru over to walk with them into the forest.

Natsu chattered about the wedding as they ate - Hari had a feeling her overabundance of energy was due to her excitement for the next day's festivities. Hari was feeling less dread and more nervousness about it now that she and Shikaku had made up. Hesitantly, obviously unsure of his welcome, Shikaku wrapped an arm around her shoulders, and she melted against him.

Both he and Shikamaru let out identical breaths of relief at this sign of her forgiveness, and Hari spent the next ten minutes giggling uncontrollably as they scowled at her.

000

Hinata showed up with Hari's kimono and an uncharacteristically timid Ino in tow early the next morning. Hari took one look at the girl, and held her arms open for a hug. Ino jumped at her, and Hari laughed a little as she apologized profusely into Hari's hair.

"It's okay," she said gently. "I'm sorry I took it out on you."

Ino flapped her hand at her.

"Please, if I were in your position, I probably would have blown up the tea house."

Her expression turned sly. "But I heard Shikaku's apologies were very romantic, and that he followed you around all afternoon like a puppy, showering you in affection."

Hari barked out a laugh. "You must have really tortured Shikamaru to get that information out of him," she said. "What he probably didn't tell you was that Shikamaru spent all morning being the puppy to convince me to forgive him. He and Shikaku even attempted to make me breakfast," she said, wrinkling her nose in memory.

They giggled over the failure that was a Nara's ability to handle emotional matters as Hinata and Ino carefully dressed her in her layers. They did her makeup and hair before adding the last piece - a beautiful, pearly white kimono with shining silver wisps carefully knitted in swirling patterns throughout. A green obi that was the exact color of Hari's eyes completed the look, and when they were finished, Hari couldn't help but stare at herself in the mirror.

"Damn," Ino said, giving a low, appreciative whistle. "You look gorgeous - really living up to your princess title," she said.

"You do look very beautiful, Hari-san. Shikaku-sama will be pleased," Hinata said, and Ino snorted.

"If by 'pleased,' you mean Shikamaru will have to peel his drooling form off the floor, then yeah, I'd say he'll be pleased."

Hari laughed, and they were interrupted by a knock at the door.

When Hinata moved to open it, she was almost bowled over by a whirlwind in a beautiful green kimono with the Nara symbol on the back, followed by her more sedate brother in similar garb.

"Aneki! It's almost time to start, we need to..." Natsu trailed off, and her jaw dropped when she caught sight of her sister.

"Wooooah, you look so pretty!" she gasped, and Eito nodded in agreement. "Man, Shikaku-san is going to flip out!" the girl said, and Ino snickered.

Shikamaru had followed them into the room, and was giving Hari an approving nod.

"Dad's going to be so smug after this," he muttered, and Hari beamed at him. He twitched, then held out an arm.

"Come on, I'm supposed to escort you out."

Ino and Hinata said goodbye and left to join the rest of the people waiting to watch Hari get married. Right. Because this was her wedding.

"You aren't going to run, are you?" Shikamaru asked, and Hari laughed, then sent him a grateful look as she took his arm.

She could do this.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-

**Next time.**

**Shikaku, why you keep messing up? Also smut! **


	3. Chapter 3

The field behind the Nara house had been transformed overnight. Hari stopped from where she and Shikamaru were standing on the porch and gaped for a minute. There were tents set up in the yard, and she could smell the now-familiar scents of Akimichi food coming from them. Between the tents was a dance floor, with lights set up around it and a small stage at the front.

Beyond the fence, rows of benches carved from wood had been set up, where she could see a surprising amount of people seated. She glanced at Shikamaru, who shrugged.

"Apparently a large portion of the village is invested in your relationship," he said.

"What? Why?" she hissed as he led her down the steps.

"You're a princess marrying into a popular clan. A magical princess. Orphans love you, you save hapless construction workers from death by falling beams, and turn my father, a terrifying figure, into a man who dances in the town square and rents bubble machines by the dozens."

She blinked at him, gaping in shock.

"Better close your mouth, we're almost there," he said with a smirk, and she snapped it shut with a click and turned to face the front as they stepped through the gate, and what looked like half of Konoha stood and turned towards her.

Hari faltered, but Shikamaru gently tugged her forward, and with a deep breath she raised her head, and couldn't stop the smile that spread across her face at the sight that met her at the end of the aisle.

Standing under the arch was Tsunade, who had agreed to officiate, in her white robes and hat, lips quirked in a smile. Eito and Natsu were off to the side, beaming at her, and standing tall, dressed in a formal black kimono, was Shikaku. He was wearing that half smile she adored, and as they got closer to him, she saw his eyes were warm as they took her in.

He held out a hand, and Shikamaru placed the palm that had been resting on his arm gently into it, then moved to sit in the front row.

"You look beautiful," Shikaku rumbled as he pulled her towards him, and she knew that her traitorous blush was back.

"You look pretty handsome, yourself," she said.

The rest of the ceremony was a bit of a blur - all she'd really remember later was the warmth of Shikaku's brown eyes as they stared into hers, and the rumble of his voice as he said his vows. Then Tsunade was declaring them man and wife, and Shikaku reeled her in for a gentle, chaste kiss.

Hari found she couldn't stop smiling as Ino and Hinata dragged her back inside to remove the white kimono and replace it with one almost identical to the twins' - a deep green with the Nara clan symbol on the back.

"Oh," she said as she turned so she could see the crest that now marked her as part of the clan.

Hinata pulled her hair out of it's elaborate twist so it fell around her shoulders in waves, then pushed her back out the door, where a beaming Ino handed her off to Shikaku.

They stood at the entrance to the large tent, and accepted congratulations and greetings from various people. When Shikamaru strolled up with Neji by his side, Hari gave him a bright smile, and he rolled his eyes. Finally, Shikaku led her to a raised table at the front of the room and helped her sit before taking the chair next to her.

Rai, wearing formal Nara attire, put a plate down in front of each of them, and Hari discovered she was starving - when had she last eaten, anyway? Shikaku chuckled as she took a large bite of potatoes, and she shrugged at him.

"Hungry, princess?" he rumbled in her ear, and she shivered a little, causing him to sit back with a smug grin.

Later, after a lazy three sentence speech from Shikamaru and a slightly incomprehensible one from the now-drunk Hokage that might have had some Naruto influence in it, Shikaku tugged her up and led her to the dance floor. For a moment she just stared at the band now on the stage, then turned to her sheepish husband.

"You are such a romantic," she said in the voice of somebody who had just discovered that the sky was actually a very deep yellow.

He rubbed the back of his neck and shrugged. The stringed band from the small courtyard they had danced in was sitting on the stage, beaming down at them.

Hari smiled back and waved, then followed Shikaku out to the floor, where the band started up the waltz-like music they'd been playing that afternoon. Hari stared up at him as he pulled her close and expertly lead her into the first turn.

"Princess, I really like the way my clan symbol looks on your back," he said into her ear, and she rolled her eyes.

"Possessive," she teased, and he just hummed his agreement.

"So, my son and Neji, huh?" he said a few minutes later when a few other people had joined them on the dance floor, and she stumbled.

"Uh, what?" she squeaked, and he laughed as she righted herself.

"I admit, I didn't see that coming. Your not-so-subtle matchmaking ploys clued me in, though," he said a little dryly, and she humphed.

"It's not matchmaking when they're already practically together," she muttered. "I just wanted to give them a chance to spend some time together without..."

"His clan is going to be a problem," Shikaku said with a sigh as she trailed off, and Hari pulled back to look at the slight frown between his brows.

"So, you don't...mind? That they're together, I mean?" she asked tentatively.

"No, not in the way you're thinking. I want my son to feel free to love who he loves, he knows that. I just don't see how this will end in anything but heartbreak," he admitted, and Hari went silent for a moment, glancing over to where Shikamaru was slouched in a chair at one of the tables, leaning towards a relaxed (for him) looking Neji as they conversed.

"Well, I guess we'll just see what happens," Hari said, protectiveness and determination welling inside her.

After all, she did have some political pull, and more than a few bargaining chips on the table. Shikaku made a contemplative noise, and when she glanced up, he was staring down at her with fondness.

"You really are perfect," he said in a low voice, and her cheeks turned bright red as he leaned down and gave her a soft kiss, resulting in a few wolf whistles and some applause.

"Troublesome," he grumbled when Hari pulled back.

Eventually the guests started filtering out, and Shikamaru and Neji made their way over, each with a sleeping twin in their arms.

"The twins are going to stay with me at the Akimichi compound for a few nights. Some clan members will be over to clean up the mess tomorrow morning, but for now, you'll have the house to yourselves."

Hari swallowed at the implications and looked down at her feet as Shikaku went over some details with his son, then they thanked the two and headed into the dark house. Hari shifted a little as he crouched down and gently removed her shoes, fingers lingering on her hose-covered calves, before standing and slipping off his own.

Breathless from just that little bit of contact, she took his outstretched hand and let him lead her deeper into the house. When he brought her to his room, she only had time to take in the large bed and warm colors before he was pulling her in for a rough kiss. She looped her arms around his shoulders eagerly, and stretched up on the tips of her toes to meet his open-mouthed kisses.

His hands were running up and down the cool fabric of her kimono, and though she couldn't feel the heat through the layers she was wearing, she knew just how warm they were. Hari was so distracted by his mouth on hers that she didn't notice he was untying her obi until it puddled into soft folds on the floor, and Shikaku's hands moved to the front of the kimono to tuck in between the thick outer layer and the thinner ones below. Hari jumped and pulled back, pulse skittering with nerves, and met heated brown eyes with her own.

Shikaku stilled, studying her face, before slowly pulling his hands out and cupping her face in his palms.

"Sweetheart," and his rough voice just did something to her, "We'll only go as far as you want, okay? If you prefer, we can change into pajamas and cuddle all night."

She chewed on her lip and studied his earnest face as he ran his thumbs over her cheekbones.

"I want to do it," she said and found she meant it. "I'm just nervous, is all."

She looked to the side, embarrassed, and he pulled her in for a hug.

"That's alright, princess, we'll take it slow, okay? You have all the power here - tell me to stop, and I will. No hard feelings."

He was running his hands through her hair, and she relaxed against him at the soothing feeling.

"Okay," she said softly, then pulled back.

After a moment's hesitation, she let the heavy fabric from the outer layer fall to the floor.

"Could you help me with these? I think I'll feel better when I'm not wrapped up like a spring roll," she muttered, and he huffed out a laugh as he reached forward with gentle hands to help her with the various ties and buttons holding the fabrics together.

When she was standing in front of him in a white shift and her thigh high stockings, held up by a garter belt Ino had insisted on with a wicked smile that morning, he paused to take a shaky breath.

"Can I touch you, sweetheart?" he rumbled, and at her shy nod, his warm hand slowly slid forward to engulf her hip, and she let out a soft sigh against his lips when he leaned forward to kiss her, his other hand moving up to burying itself in her hair.

His tongue dipped into her mouth to intertwine with her own, and she pushed closer to him as heat began to build in her groin and her nervousness became a distant memory. Hari ran her hands down his chest, and she made a disappointed whine at how thick the fabric covering him was, pulling at the front of his kimono futilely.

He laughed, and moved his hands to untie it and slide it off his shoulders, lips never leaving her own. Hari pulled back to help him with the last few layers until he was standing in front of her in his black briefs, and she took a moment to just look. She swallowed at the expanse of tan, scarred skin stretched over muscle. Shikaku's body was gorgeous, as expected, with broad shoulders and a lightly furred chest that tapered down into slim hips and thickly muscled thighs. His trim stomach had a dark trail of hair leading down into his low-slung briefs, where she could see the outline of his hard cock straining against the fabric.

She reached a tentative hand forward to trail down his chest, running her hands curiously through the hair there before following it down. She hesitated and glanced up at him, but he was just staring calmly back at her, letting her know she was running the show. Hari gathered up her courage and slid her hand down to cup his length, which jerked in her hand as he gave a low groan.

She wasn't an expert, but she was pretty sure he would be considered above average in size. Curiously, she trailed her fingers up it, tracing the head through the fabric with the tips of her fingers. Shikaku took a shuddering breath and grabbed her wrist to still her hand. Hari blinked up at him, and heat spread from her stomach to the rest of her body as she took in his dark eyes and strained face.

"Princess," he whispered. "Can I take you to bed?"

She'd barely nodded her head before he was hauling her up against him, lifting her with his hands behind her thighs until her legs wrapped around his waist and her arms were clinging to his shoulders. He kissed her roughly, and all rational thought flew out of her mind as he ground against her, the only thing between them the thin layer of her white lace panties and his black cotton briefs.

She gasped against his mouth as pleasure coursed through her, then reached up and impatiently tugged his hair out of its high tail, making a low sound of approval as it fell around his face. Hari then buried her fingers into its surprising softness and tugged his mouth to hers, pushing her hips down into his again, causing them both to groan. Then he was lowering them both onto the bed, easily holding her weight, and settling between her thighs.

"Can I," he whispered as he pushed up on her slip, and she nodded frantically.

He leaned back far enough to pull it up over her head and made a low, appreciative noise as his eyes greedily took in the white expanse of her skin, mostly unscarred, covered only by the matching bra, panties, and garter and hose set. Hari blushed under his regard but didn't move to cover herself, and he reached forward to run his palms up her sides, then back down, over her hips, and to the tops of her white thigh highs.

"As sexy as these are," he said, "tonight I want to see all of you. But maybe you can put them back on later."

He then peeled her out of the rest of her clothes, and she forgot to be shy as he kissed and sucked his way down her body.

Finally, when she was buzzing with need, she choked out a whispered, "Please."

"Please what, princess?" he said against her flank, pressing a small kiss there, and she just shook her head in frustration, breath hitching.

"Alright," he soothed. "Alright, I'll take care of you, baby. I'll take such good care of you."

He ran his lips across her abdomen to hover over her sex, and she bit her lip but didn't tense as he spread her legs apart and knelt between them.

At the first touch of his tongue, she gasped and arched against him, then moaned as he chuckled, the vibrations sending bolts of lightening up her spine. He set a rhythm of firm flicks of his tongue against her that had her gripping his hair and chanting his name.

The pleasure was cresting, and she knew that she was close. When he pushed two fingers into her, she exploded into the most intense orgasm she'd ever had. He continued to work his tongue over her and gently thrust his fingers in and out of her as she came down. Finally, she tugged him up towards her for a kiss, feeling a thrill go through her as she tasted herself on his tongue.

"You're so wet for me," he groaned against her mouth, and she arched against him where he was pressed to her hip.

Impatiently, she reached down to push at his underwear.

"I want you," she said, and he bit off a swear word as he reached down to help her push off the last piece of clothing between them.

He kicked them off a little frantically, and she couldn't stop the small giggle that burst out of her at his rare moment of clumsiness. He smiled at her, and her heart stuttered in her chest. Sobering, she brought her hand up to cup his face, tangling her fingers in the sweaty hair that had fallen forward. He closed his eyes as he turned into the caress.

That bit of sweetness had her relaxing back against the bed and opening herself to him. Shikaku didn't ask if she was ready, instead, he just turned intense eyes to study her face as he reached down to place his tip at her entrance. She kept her eyes on his as he began to rock into her. It was a stretch, but she didn't feel any pain as he inched forward, probably due to how wet she was and the prep he'd done with his fingers.

Finally, his hips met the back of her thighs, and he groaned and brought his forehead to hers, hunched over and panting for breath. Tentatively, she wrapped her legs around his hips and put her hands on his shoulders, gasping as the movement seated him more fully inside of her.

"You feel so good, baby," he whispered. "Can I move?"

In response, Hari rocked against him, and he let out a string of swear words before pulling out partially and pushing back into her, making both of them gasp.

"Oh," Hari said up to the ceiling when he did it again and hit something inside of her that sent a flutter of pleasure through her.

He paused and leaned back from where his face had been buried in her neck to study her.

"Good 'oh?'" he asked in a strained voice, and she smiled up at him.

"Very good 'oh,'" she assured, then tugged him back down for a kiss.

He must have taken that to heart, because he began to move in earnest after that, breath hitching in pleasure each time he bottomed out. Every once in awhile he'd hit that spot again, and soon she was angling her hips up towards his so he found it almost every thrust, legs tight around his slim hips and hands scrabbling at his back.

"More," she finally demanded when she became impatient with the almost-enough pleasure.

"Oh fuck," he said, and his next thrust was powerful enough to have her arching off the bed.

"I'm sorry, I can't..." he said as he began pushing into her roughly, holding her in place by gripping her hips tightly. His pelvis was rocking against her sensitive clit with every movement, and she thrashed against his hold as another orgasm built. The thought that it was her that was making him break his ever-present control finally pushed her over the edge, and she tightened around him as her back bowed off the bed and she twisted the sheets in her hands.

He made a broken noise and sank his teeth lightly into her neck as he tensed, hips stuttering against hers. Hari's eyes widened when she felt his cock jerk and swell, and another small orgasm rocked through her body when she realized he was coming inside of her. After a few moments, he collapsed to the side, reaching out to pull her against him.

"Huh," she said against his chest once she'd gotten her breath under control.

His hands stilled where they'd been tracing up and down her back, making her skin break out into goosebumps.

"Huh as in, 'that was interesting but let's never do it again, or..." he trailed off, and she giggled.

"Huh as in, 'that was surprisingly amazing after my disaster of a first time, let's do it all the time,'" she responded, and he relaxed.

Hari rolled her eyes and pressed a tentative kiss on his chest, and he tightened his arms around her.

"Well, princess, I certainly won't say no."

Hari chewed on her lip, suddenly unsure. "So it was...okay?"

She yelped as he rolled her over onto her back, pressed her down into the mattress with his body, and kissed the hell out of her. When he pulled back they were both panting.

"Yeah, princess," he said, highly amused. "It was okay."

He then proceeded to show her just how okay it really was.

000

The next few days were entirely blissful. Shikaku showered Hari in attention and affection, and they didn't see another person for forty-eight amazing hours.

Somebody had stocked their fridge, so they didn't even have to go out to find food. They picnicked in the forest the day after their wedding, and Shikaku made love to her on a blanket under a canopy of leaves that were turning colors in the cool fall weather. He whispered his appreciation of her body, her smile, and anything else he thought of against her skin as he thrust into her, and Hari had to blink back tears as he shuddered and came. She was just so happy.

On the second day, he convinced her to put the garter and stockings back on, then took her from behind as she moaned encouragement into the kitchen table. He made her feel beautiful, which was...new for her. Before people had always wanted her for her reputation, or her strength, never just for herself.

Shikaku was affectionate, too, wrapping his arms around her from behind as she made lunch, absentmindedly kissing the top of her head as they moved her things into their now-joint bedroom, or pulling her against him while they slept. Hari's cheeks were actually getting a little sore from how much she was smiling. When Ino and Shikamaru brought the twins back on the third morning, Shikamaru took one look at them and sighed.

"You two are going to be so hard to live with," he grumbled over Natsu and Eito's excited chattering.

Hari blushed and Shikaku shot his son a smug smile while Ino laughed.

"I think it's sweet," the blonde girl said, pulling Hari in for a quick hug. "We'll have to do a girl's night, and you can tell us all about it," she finished, and Hari giggled at Shikamaru and Shikaku's identical looks of horror.

"So, who wants to see their rooms?" Shikaku said, smiling lazily as Eito and Natsu squealed in delight.

The rest of the morning was spent moving the twins out of the guest quarters and into the rooms down the hall from Hari and Shikaku's.

"Can we go play in the forest?" Eito asked after they were done darting back and forth between their bedrooms and yelling their delight.

Ino and Shikamaru had left to pick up a mission a few hours ago, so it was just the four of them.

"Sure, let me shower, and then we'll leave," Shikaku said.

Hari rolled her eyes as they pouted at the delay.

"We'll be in the backyard," she said, and leaned forward to brush her lips against his, to the loud protestations of the twins.

He gave her a self-satisfied smile that had her heartbeat picking up, then turned and sauntered deeper into the house as she forced her wayward siblings into jackets and herded them out the door.

She was sitting on the front porch, watching as Natsu stalked a butterfly and Eito stared down a squirrel ten feet away from him, when she caught motion from the corner of her eye.

With a gasp, she stood, and had barely gotten to her feet when two blurs in black landed in the yard, one to the side of Eito and one next to Natsu, who screamed.

Already in motion, Hari sent a stunner at the ninja drawing a kunai on Eito and then apparated next to Natsu's side just as the black-cloaked figure spit a stream of water at the girl. Hari twisted her body in front of her sister's, apparating them to Eito and ignoring the searing pain in her side where she hadn't been fast enough to avoid the hit.

Just as she appeared next to her brother, a towel-clad Shikaku burst into the yard, and Hari met his furious eyes for only a moment before she grabbed Eito around the waist and apparated all three of them into the guest quarters, where her wards were still up and strong. The whole thing, from when Hari had caught sight of the enemy shinobi, had taken maybe fifteen seconds.

"Are you alright?" Hari gasped, hands fluttering over terrified and tear-stained faces. "Are you hurt?" she asked when they didn't immediately answer.

"N-no Aneki," Eito stuttered out, and Natsu shook her head. Then her eyes fell to Hari's waist.

"You're bleeding!" Natsu said, hysterical, and Hari looked down and had to swallow nausea at the deep gash on her right side, which was bleeding at an alarming rate, soaking her shirt.

"Oh," she said faintly, and sat back with a thump on her bottom, wincing as she jolted her wound.

"We need to get help," Natsu said, and Hari grabbed her arm before she could run out the door.

"No," she said firmly. "Wait until Shikaku comes to get you."

Hari swayed at the movement and gritted her teeth.

"Natsu, go to the bathroom and get some clean towels," Eito said calmly, kneeling down next to Hari. "Lay down, Aneki. Ino-san's been teaching me first aide, and she said the first thing to do is to try and stop the bleeding."

Hari blinked at him but allowed him to help her lie down while a silently-crying Natsu darted to the bathroom. She hissed as he gently lifted her shirt and pushed it up to reveal the wound. Natsu appeared back at his side and shoved the towels into his hands.

"Sorry, Hari-nee, this is going to hurt," he whispered as he quickly folded up a towel and pressed it firmly against her side.

Unable to help herself, she gasped in pain, and Natsu sobbed and grabbed her hand as Eito pushed down on the towel, lower lip shaking but hands steady.

"You're good at this, otouto," Hari whispered, and he sniffled.

Hari swallowed the tears of pain gathering in her eyes and squeezed Natsu's hand. A moment later, she heard Shikaku's voice calling for them down the hallway, and before she could stop her, Natsu was darting to the door and flinging it open.

"Shikaku-san," she said with a sob. "Hari's really hurt, she's...she's..."

Hari must have faded out of consciousness for a few seconds because when she opened her eyes from what she thought was just a blink, Shikaku's worried face was leaning over her.

"M' okay," she said, and pointedly didn't look at the blood-soaked towel Eito was still pressing against her side.

"Baby, can you lower the wards?" Shikaku was saying in an urgent voice. "I don't want to move you, but the medic can't get in."

Hari took a moment to parse through his words, then nodded, ignoring the way the movement made bile rise in her throat.

"My wand," she whispered, and his big hand pressed it into hers.

Shakily, she raised it towards the door and chanted the incantation as she went through the movements, dropping her arm in relief with a sob when it was done.

"Good, sweetheart, that's good," he said in a low, reassuring voice. "I need you to focus on me, and stay awake. Can you do that?"

Hari nodded her head slowly, once, dimly aware of more people coming into the room. She kept her eyes on his steady brown ones as warmth infused her side, taking some of the pain. His big hand cupped her cheek, and he continued to talk to her, soothing her fear.

"Okay, princess, they're going to put you to sleep, now. When you wake up, it won't hurt anymore."

He brushed away a tear that had escaped from her eye and was trailing down her temple, his breath stuttering as he did so.

"'To, 'Tsu?" she slurred, and he ran a hand through her hair.

"I'll take care of them. We'll see you when you wake up."

With that promise, she sighed out a breath, and let herself close her eyes.

000

Hari's eyes fluttered open to the sound of low voices murmuring in the background, and she was delighted when she realized her side no longer felt like it was burning from the inside. She was also pleased to find that she was in her own bed instead of the hospital, and her two siblings were curled together like cats at the end of the large mattress, snoring.

She cleared her throat, and the voices cut off. Rai's face appeared above her own.

"Hari-san! You're awake!" she said, relief evident in her voice.

Hari rasped out an affirmative, and a few seconds later a hand holding a cup with a straw attached was shoved in front of her, and she reached up to steady it, gulping down the liquid greedily. Only then did she follow the arm to its owner, and she blinked in confusion because she didn't know this person.

The pretty pink haired girl smiled at her. "Hello, Hari-san, my name is Haruno Sakura. Shikamaru-kun asked me to keep an eye on you today."

"Naruto's teammate," Hari said. "He's told me about you."

Sakura grinned, then pushed the blankets down. Somebody had washed the blood off of her and put her into pajamas.

"I'm going to check the wound, okay?" Sakura said, and Hari nodded as she pushed up her shirt and carefully peeled back bandages, then ran glowing hands over a red, angry-looking mass of scar tissue that ran from right above Hari's hip up to her ribcage.

"It was a nasty hit," Sakura said when she saw Hari studying it. "It was deep enough to cause some internal bleeding, but we caught it in time. It looks bad now, but the scarring won't be too awful after a few more healing sessions, especially if you use the cream that the Nara clan developed to minimize scar tissue."

"So...not that I'm not happy about it, but is there a reason I'm at home instead of the hospital?" Hari asked as Sakura replaced the bandages and pulled her shirt back down.

"Shikaku-san and Tsunade-shishou decided this was more secure," Sakura explained. "This way we could put guards for you and your brother and sister in one place. You've got two more Nara jounin in the house, and an ANBU guard around the perimeter."

Hari raised an eyebrow at that.

"And where is my esteemed husband?" she asked, and Rai huffed out a laugh.

"Where do you think? He's hunting," she said a little smugly.

At Hari's questioning look, she clarified. "He left one of the ninja that attacked just alive enough for Inoichi-sama to mind walk him. There were two more people in their party, and he and his team went out to collect them."

Hari's lips quirked up on one side. "My hero," she said dryly, and Sakura laughed.

"How long was I asleep?" she asked, feeling her eyelids start to droop.

"About two days," Rai said, and Hari made a face.

"Worst honeymoon ever," she mumbled and fell asleep to the sound of Rai and Sakura's giggles.

The next time Hari woke up, Shikaku was beside her, dozing, and the early morning light was filtering through the window. She could hear Eito and Natsu's laughter from one of their bedrooms, and she sighed in relief. She also really, really needed to pee. Wincing, she slowly slid her body to the edge of the bed, but before she could try and sit up, there was a hand on her arm stopping her.

She glanced over and met steady brown eyes, now awake and focused on her.

"Hey, you," she whispered, and to her surprise, he scooted over and shoved his face into her neck.

A little bewildered, she raised a hand to his loose hair and ran her fingers through it.

"What's this, love?" she said, and he stilled.

Hari's eyes widened when she realized what she had said, but she didn't bother taking it back.

The next moment, his lips were on hers, kissing her almost frantically.

"You almost died," he whispered when he pulled back, and she blinked at him, dazed. "I'm supposed to protect you, and I failed."

"I'm fine," Hari whispered and put a hand on his cheek when he went to argue. "Please, I don't want to..." she trailed off, and to her annoyance, her eyes filled with tears.

He softened, and gently pulled her towards him.

"I'm sorry, sweetheart. I'm being a jerk, huh?" She felt his lips in her hair and relaxed against him.

"Yeah, but you're my jerk," she mumbled and smiled at his rumbling laugh.

"I am," he said after a moment. "I'm yours."

Her heart swelled at that, and she smiled against his neck.

"I'm yours, too," she admitted, and his arm tightened around her shoulders.

After a few minutes, she shifted uncomfortably. "I hate to ruin this moment, but I really, really need to use the bathroom."

He huffed out a laugh, and obediently helped her out of bed, gritting his teeth when she winced in pain.

"Stop brooding," she muttered as he helped her to the ensuite.

He stepped out the door while she did her business, then helped her back into bed.

"So, did you find them?" she said after she'd carefully rolled onto her uninjured side to snuggle against him.

He didn't bother to pretend he didn't know who she was talking about.

"We did," he said with deep satisfaction.

"I'm guessing we have my uncle to thank for this attack, too?" she said quietly, and he sighed and ran a hand through her hair.

"I don't understand - why now? Why not before the wedding?"

He didn't say anything, and she frowned.

"That...wasn't the first attack, was it?" she said, and if she wasn't worried about pulling at her still-healing injury, she'd smack her forehead.

She was trained in protection detail, too, and she knew that most attacks if you're doing your job correctly, are stopped before the client even realizes they've happened. She took his continued silence as confirmation and felt her old familiar friend, temper, flare. She pulled back from him more quickly than she should have, and hissed as pain flared in her side. She smacked at Shikaku's hands as they fluttered over her, and glared up at him.

"Why would you hide that from me?"

She winced as her voice came out sounding hurt and bewildered instead of the hard and in-control she'd been going for.

"Oh, princess," he rumbled, and she scowled at him. He sighed and ran a hand over his face.

"It's our job to stop the threats before they get to you. I didn't want to worry you."

"I don't like it when people keep things from me," she said quietly. "Not when it's about my safety or the safety of my family.'

He mulled that over before nodding. "Noted. Unless it's classified, I'll let you know next time."

She huffed but was too tired to stay mad at him, so let him pull her back into his side.

000

A week later she was lying propped up on pillows on a chaise in the backyard, lazily watching Eito and Natsu chase after bubbles as Shikamaru dozed next to her when a familiar voice spoke from the gate.

"Ah, I have missed your bubbles these past months," Hari sat up so fast her side twinged, but she barely noticed the pain as she stared at Hibiki, standing serenely in her backyard wearing an impeccable white haori over a deep red kimono.

She took him in, hand over her mouth, as Eito and Natsu threw themselves at him for a hug. After a moment she stood and stumbled over to him, ignoring the presence of her husband and another shinobi standing behind Hibiki.

Over the elated yelling of the twins, she whispered one word.

"Father?" His warm eyes met her own, and he held out his arms.

Hari embraced him, taking in his familiar scent.

Later, Hibiki explained that once the marriage was complete, he felt comfortable leaving the country in his brother's hands.

"I wanted to spend my last weeks with my family," he said, running a hand through Natsu's hair on one side while Hari lay curled against him at the other, Eito at his feet.

Shikaku and the other shinobi - Naruto's own Uchiha Sasuke, and Hibiki's protection detail for the last months - sat silently watching in armchairs.

Once word of Hari and Shikaku's completed union went through, Hibiki had left a copy of the contract and his outline for plans for the slow opening of Fruit Country. The mission to smuggle Hibiki out of Fruit Country and to Konoha was volunteer-only, as there was a slim chance of survival. Sasuke, Hibiki had explained fondly, had insisted that they try to reunite the Daimyo with his family one more time before he succumbed to his sickness. The Uchiha had then single-handedly taken out multiple assassins and practically carried Hibiki most of the way.

At this point in the story, Eito and Natsu had turned solemn eyes on Sasuke before tackling the ninja in a hug. When Eito called him 'Sasuke-niisama' the stoic ninja's eyes had actually widened a bit before he looked away with a grunt. Hari had heard a lot of things about the formerly-missing-nin, and most of them weren't good unless coming from Naruto. The village accepted his presence, but they didn't trust him. At that moment, watching the way Hibiki looked at him fondly, she determined that she would give him a chance.

Hari stood and crossed the room to where Sasuke was staring down at where the twins were wrapped around him in discomfort. He seemed to know what she was about to do because his eyes widened. With a soft smile, she wrapped him in a hug.

"Thank you so much," she murmured.

After a moment he awkwardly patted her back and gave a disgruntled, "you're welcome."

000

The next month was maybe the happiest Harriet had ever been. Hibiki settled into their lives easily. Hari began training under Saku to take over her portion of the clan duties. Basically, she handled most of the day-to-day minutiae. If there was a problem with housing, or somebody wanted advice on a marriage or business contract, or the fence around the Nara property was damaged, people came to her. Hari was also in charge if Shikaku were unavailable for some reason.

Eito and Natsu had started school three days after Hibiki joined them, and every morning Hari and Hibiki would walk with them to drop them off, either Shikamaru or Shikaku a silent, grumpy shadow at their sides. They still weren't really morning people.

Hari would then jog around the compound with Rai, stopping to greet members of the clan that were out and about.

"Why are you never on missions?" Hari asked her one day and received her least favorite Nara look, the one that said Why are you bothering me with stupid questions when I could be napping.

"You are my mission," the woman grumbled.

Hari blinked in shock. She had kind of just assumed she got whoever was around, but now that she thought about it Rai did seem to be their most-used bodyguard. Shikamaru, Shikaku, and Naruto were almost always busy now that the wedding was over.

"Do you mind?" Hari finally asked, and Rai quirked a lip up.

"Nah. It's an easy way to get my mission hours in before I take the jounin exams next month," she said around a yawn.

That was how Hari discovered that her sleepy, snarky friend was one of the strongest ninja in her generation. She was only sixteen and already up for a jounin promotion - no wonder Shikaku trusted her with Hari's safety.

Shikaku also made good on his promise to train with Hari once she was deemed fit by the medics. It mostly consisted of teaching her to handle kunai and forcing her to dodge his swirling shadows. He looked so incredibly sexy standing in the clearing they used with his scars and glinting earrings as shadows roiled at his feet, that their sessions almost always devolved into a frantic make out session against a tree.

Eito loved school. Natsu...liked socializing but wasn't doing so well with sitting still. It wasn't surprising, exactly, but she had become so disruptive that Shikaku sat her down and gave her a stern lecture, with Hibiki next to him nodding along solemnly.

"I know you don't like it, Natsu, but if you can't control yourself I'm afraid you'll have to go to the Konoha general school."

"What about Eito?" she'd exclaimed.

"He'll stay enrolled where he's at," Shikaku said firmly. "He's doing well, and it would be a shame to take it away from him."

After that, Natsu calmed down in class. She wasn't perfectly behaved by any stretch of the imagination, but it was bearable for everyone now. Hari was so impressed with Shikaku's show of parenting skills that she'd shoved him down on their bed and given him her first attempt at a blow job. They'd both declared her first try a resounding success. Remembering the way he'd groaned helplessly and tugged at her hair when she'd run the flat of her tongue across the head of his cock had her blushing at random for days.

Three weeks after he'd arrived, Hibiki was sitting with her on the porch, both of them wrapped in blankets and watching Natsu and Eito play with Chiasa in the backyard, Rai dozing against a tree.

"They're going to want to become shinobi," Hibiki broke the silence calmly as if he hadn't just voiced a fear that had been bouncing around in her mind for the past month.

Every game seemed to involve the two of them being ninja, and they had started hassling Shikamaru and Naruto for 'training.'

"Well, they'll get over it," Hari snapped, and pointedly didn't look over at Hibiki's disapproving expression.

"So you intend to deny them?"

He took a sip of tea and watched as Natsu and Eito started to slowly stalk towards Rai, who to all appearances was fast asleep.

"Of course I do! I won't allow them to become child soldiers."

Rai twitched, and Hari gritted her teeth when she realized the girl was probably listening in.

"Shikaku said times were changing. Naruto and Kakashi are gaining support for pushing the graduation age to fourteen," he replied.

"Until another war comes along, and the council decides to send children off to die to keep them safe," Hari gritted out.

She flinched when his hand fell on her arm.

"I understand how you're feeling..."

"You don't!" she yelled, then quieted her voice when the twins stopped their slow progression across the grass to look at her.

"You don't," she repeated. "You've never been a child fighting somebody else's war."

He hummed, and for a few minutes was silent as he sipped his tea, chuckling when the twins finally pounced on Rai, who flailed and oofed dramatically, sending them into a fit of giggles.

"We both know that isn't the reason for your reticence. Or, not all of it." Hibiki finally said.

Hari scowled down at her feet - how did he always see through her? "I can't lose anybody else," she whispered. "Soon you'll be...and I've lost so much already."

Hibiki wrapped an arm around her and pulled her into him. She rested her forehead against his shoulder, which was thin and bony, a sign of the sickness eating away at him.

"My poor child. You have lived through so much pain. Yet here you are, unbroken, happy, surrounded by people who love you."

He pushed her back until she was staring into his steady, dark eyes. He pushed her hair from her face and cupped her cheek.

"You are so strong. Now, you must allow those around you to become strong, too. It is difficult, but you cannot hold others back with your own fears."

Hari wanted to rage at him, and scream, and tell him he didn't understand. But Hibiki did understand. He'd lost his wife, his family, his country, and now would lose his life. He'd been forced to marry one child off to secure the safety of his other children. Yet here he sat, comforting her.

"Alright," she whispered. "I'll try."

He smiled, and the pride in his eyes warmed her.

"That is all a father can ask of his children."

000

Hibiki died silently in the night a week later. The funeral was on a clear, crisp fall day, and Hari stood, staring at the grave as he was lowered into it, numbly rubbing circles on the twin's shaking shoulders, murmuring reassurances that she forgot as soon as they left her lips. Shikaku stood behind her, his chest a solid, grounding presence against her back. Shikamaru and his team, along with team seven minus Kakashi, were in attendance, and Tsunade herself did his rights. Afterwards, Shikaku put his arm around her and kissed her temple while Rai picked up an unusually silent Natsu and Shikamaru carried Eito, who was rubbing snot and tears into his black shirt.

The next few weeks were...difficult. Hari got herself out of bed every morning only because she vaguely knew her siblings needed her to. She made breakfast and smiled down at them and walked them to school. Then she went home and crawled into bed again, staring at the wall and ignoring Rai's worried hovering until it was time to go pick up Eito and Natsu again.

At night, Shikaku pulled her to him and let her cry against him, petting her hair.

Finally, three weeks after Hibiki's death, Hari didn't go back to bed after dropping off the twins. Shikaku had stood at the side of her bed for long minutes before leaving that morning, staring at her with such a lost expression that it had broken through the shell of depression that was surrounding her. She remembered the conversation she'd had with Hibiki before he'd died.

You have lived through so much pain. Yet here you are, unbroken, happy, surrounded by people who love you.

Rai looked so relieved when she fell into step next to her on her first run in over twenty days that Hari rolled her eyes and knocked her shoulder with her own.

"I'll be fine," she muttered, and spent the rest of the morning determinedly not looking at Rai's soft smile.

She was overwhelmed by the response of the clan members as they saw her out on her usual morning rounds again. Nara weren't exactly known for their expressiveness, but they seemed downright giddy as they told her about downed fences and burst pipes and a reduction in C-ranks.

It warmed her heart, further pushing through the haze of depression she'd been stuck in. These people all cared about her - wanted and needed her. She took a shaky breath, and made a promise to herself. As long as she had her clan, she would be there for them - no matter what else happened. They were her family now.

When she showed up at Shikaku's office with a bento box she'd spent an hour putting together for him, he'd wrapped her in his arms for several minutes before sitting with her on the couch in the corner of his office. He spent most of lunch with a pleased half smile on his face, and she'd given him a long kiss before leaving him to finish his work day.

The next two months were calm. Hari fully took over her portion of responsibilities of running the clan, and was a little overwhelmed with smug Naras at the celebration dinner. They lounged around looking self-satisfied at all the non-clan guests, reminding her of a bunch of cats, Shikaku and Shikamaru the worst of all, pointedly calling her princess and hinting at how useful magic was in running a clan.

She'd started discussing ways that her magic could benefit the village with Shikaku. They both agreed her wards would be useful, though he still refused to consider her idea of providing charms to shinobi that she could use to extract them when things went sideways. It was frustrating, and they'd gotten into their first real fight over it. They had made up pretty quickly, though Shikaku still refused to include it in the contract, and as he was clan head there wasn't much she could do about it.

"We've been married for five months today," Hari said suddenly from where she was standing in front of the mirror in their shared bathroom, brushing her hair. He looked over at her, rinsing his razor and grabbing a towel to pat his freshly-shaved face clean of cream.

"Aa. I'll talk to Rai about keeping the twins at her place tonight. We can have dinner in and celebrate."

He waggled his eyebrows at her, and she giggled (an annoying habit she seemed to have picked up around him). He then kissed her thoroughly before leaving for the day.

Rai eagerly agreed to take the twins - now that she was officially a jounin, she didn't get as much time with them as she used to. Shikamaru was out on a mission, which meant they'd really have the house to themselves. She hummed to herself happily at the market after spending the morning setting up a marriage contract with an adorable civilian family for one of her chunin clan members.

She had made dinner and spent an hour getting ready when there was a knock on the door. Hari answered it to find a nervous-looking genin standing on her doorstep. Her heart sank as he stuttered out a message from Shikaku that something had come up at work and he'd have to skip their dinner plans.

Hari thanked the messenger politely, then sighed as she shut the door. She wasn't angry - she knew that as jounin commander he just couldn't always be there even if he wanted to be. She was disappointed, though, and a little at a loss as to what to do with all of the extra food.

After a moment of thought, she pulled down a bento box from the cupboard and packed it full of the dinner she'd made before eating a plate for herself and cleaning up the kitchen. If he was stuck working late, the least she could do was to drop off some food to him.

Hari walked leisurely through the village, enjoying the crisp night air, her guard for the evening, a silent man named Fuu, a quiet presence at her back. The outer office where Shikaku's assistant usually sat was empty and still, but she could see a light on through the cracked open door of his private office.

Fuu stopped outside the entrance and she gave him a small wave as he turned in a guard position, and she she quietly ghosted across the floor, a smile already on her face. For some reason Shikaku loved it when she dropped food off to him, especially if there was somebody around to see her do it. He'd get that adorable smug expression on his face that always made her blush - because it was obvious that he was proud that she was his wife.

It was with these happy thoughts that she pushed the door open. Her eyes went first to his desk, but when she saw it was empty, she turned to the couch, where he was known to lounge sometimes when doing paperwork.

When she finally caught sight of her husband, she sucked in a shocked breath, and for a long second couldn't make sense of what her eyes were telling her. Shikaku was, indeed, sitting on the couch. Perched on his lap, wrapped in his arms with her head tucked under his chin, was Michi. The bento fell from numb fingers and she let out a small, pained noise.

Both Michi and Shikaku's eyes darted over to her at the sound, and a moment later there was the thud of the bento hitting the floor. Two sets of eyes widened, and for a moment Hari just stood there, disbelief warring with devastation. Shikaku made a noise in the back of his throat, eyes wide with shock and denial. With barely a thought, Hari apparated out of the office.

She had landed in her bedroom. Probably, she had thought to herself a little numbly, because she felt safe there. In the room she shared with her husband, her husband that she had just caught with another woman. A sob escaped her mouth, and she slapped a hand over it.

No, she reprimanded herself as tears fell from her eyes. No, he doesn't get to do this to you.

With that thought, she was galvanized into action. With a snarl she took out her wand and pointed it at the wardrobe. It flung itself open, and her clothes whipped out from it, making their way down the hall to the unused guest room. She then marched into their bathroom, where she pointedly ignored their toothbrushes sitting next to each other and sent her things dancing out of the room and down the hall.

"Hari," his voice, agonized, said from behind her.

She twisted away from his touch to her shoulder with another snarl. His brown eyes were staring at her in desperation, and his hands were held palm up towards her. Hari's things were moving around them in a stream, still marching out the door towards her bedroom.

"It's not what it looks like," he tried, and she scoffed.

"I know you must think I'm some sort of idiot, especially after you managed to fool me into thinking this was an actual marriage," he flinched and opened his mouth, probably to protest, but she just talked over him.

"But I know what I saw. You skipped out on a date with me to be with that woman. Oh god, I am an idiot," she said with a small, humiliating sob, and scrambled out of his grasp when he tried to reach for her.

"I believed you when you said you were working late. I actually packed you a dinner, because I felt bad that you were stuck at the office."

"Hari, please -" he said, and she shook her head.

"I'm done listening to you," she said coldly, and apparated into the guest room.

She slammed the door and quickly put up wards so he couldn't get in. She then used a silencing charm so she didn't have to listen to him pounding on the door and begging for her to talk to him.

Hari didn't sleep that night.

She spent the next three days avoiding her husband, trying and failing to think of a solution. The sad truth was, she'd fallen in love with him. How was she supposed to continue living in the same house as the man she loved, knowing that he didn't feel the same way? Shikamaru, of course, knew something was going on, but Hari had no plans to clue him into why she was now sleeping in the guest room and suddenly too busy to eat dinner with her family every evening.

Shikaku had tried to corner her more than once, and looked increasingly annoyed with her when she simply apparated out of his reach. He'd tried to trap her in his shadows to force her to stay still, and had only uttered the words "Hari, there was nothing remotely sexual about -" before her magic exploded out of her in a mix of anger and panic that sent them both flying in opposite directions. The panic, because she was afraid that if she let him talk to her, she'd believe anything he said just so she'd stop feeling so miserable.

Michi tried to approach her at the market, face thunderous, the day after the shadows incident.

"Listen, you spoiled, idiotic princess," she'd hissed at her.

Rai had stepped forward, but Hari motioned for her to stop, her own anger rising in her. Hari knew that Shikaku was the one who had stepped out of line and betrayed her, but Michi had set out to ruin Hari's marriage from the beginning, and worse, she had succeeded.

"Talk to Shikaku, so he can tell you nothing happ -" Hari calmly walked out of the market a few moments later, leaving a Petrified Michi floating upside down in the air behind her.

"Huh," Rai said. "How long you think she'll be stuck there?"

Hari shrugged. "Couple of hours."

Rai didn't ask her what was going on, probably because she'd already worked it out. Hari's clan was annoying that way.

She wasn't the only one that figured it out. Shikamaru had suddenly become a silent shadow by her side, sending her worried looks and opening his mouth as if to say something before closing it in frustration. Finally, she sighed and looked up at him over paperwork on the fourth day after finding Shikaku embracing Michi in his office.

"Just say it, Shikamaru," she muttered tiredly. Broken hearts weren't good for sleep.

He looked out the window, uncomfortable, before turning and meeting her gaze.

"Are you going to leave the clan?" he said bluntly, and she jerked.

"I - no. I mean, not unless your father makes me," she said in a quiet voice, and he sighed with relief.

"He won't. He told me what happened. Hari, you need to talk to him," he said sternly, and she glared at him.

"I don't need to do anything with him," she muttered, and Shikamaru huffed but didn't comment, and five minutes later was dozing in his chair.

Michi finally caught up with her again outside the compound gates on her way back from a meeting with the head of village security to discuss wards.

"I was captured," her voice said, and Hari spun around, wand out.

"Why the hell won't you just leave me alone!" Hari hissed at her. "You won, okay? No need to gloat."

Michi shook her head from side to side, and pursed her lips. "Please give me five minutes and I'll leave you alone forever if that's what you want."

Rai lifted her hands, probably about to unleash a deadly jutsu of some sort, and Hari sighed, then waved her away. She was exhausted, and didn't have energy for a physical confrontation in her that day.

"Fine. Talk."

Michi looked down at her shoes.

"Shikaku and I have been friends for years. When he proposed, we both knew that he didn't really mean it, and I didn't want it. I left on a mission shortly after, and I was captured and held for five weeks. It was...bad," the woman said, and looked up and met Hari's eyes squarely.

"I guess I spent a lot of time thinking about the people I would leave behind when they finally got tired of torturing me and killed me. I don't love Shikaku, not like that, and I am never going to, but thoughts of getting out and maybe creating a home with him, a place I belonged...that got me through some of the worst of it."

The woman stopped, and Hari held her breath. Hari had seen war, she knew the cruelty people could inflict on each other, and she felt herself softening towards the woman. Damn her bleeding heart. Next to her Rai shifted uncomfortably, probably thinking the same thing.

"Then I did get out, and when I finally returned everybody was talking about Shikaku's new princess, and how obviously in love he was and I was just so angry all the time..." Michi sighed.

"Anyway, after I confronted you, I went to see him. He told me in no uncertain terms that you were the one he wanted, and that was that. I knew I'd crossed a line, so I didn't pursue it any further."

Michi ran a hand through her short green hair, and met Hari's eyes steadily. "I lost myself for awhile. I was taking stupid risks on missions and refusing to go to psych evals. Last week they took me off the active list after declaring me suicidal."

Hari flinched, and felt the last of her anger at the woman fade.

"Like I said, Shikaku and I have been friends for years, so when I finally broke, he's who I went to. What you walked in on was one friend comforting another. It wasn't sexual or romantic or whatever else you have going on in your head. So, if you could kindly stop torturing your husband and grow a pair and talk to him, every jounin that's forced to interact with him would be thankful."

The woman finished that lovely sentence with a sneer, and disappeared in a swirl of leaves. Charming.

Rai and Hari stood in shock for a few moments, the latter with a growing feeling of unease.

"Well," Rai finally said. "I guess that explains why Shikaku-sama has been so terrifying this week, and why you've been walking around looking like somebody shat in your favorite shoes."

Hari sighed and pressed the heels of her hands to her eyes.

"She was on his lap," she finally said.

She had held back from talking to anybody about their fight, mostly because she knew the power she held over public opinion, and didn't want to destroy Shikaku's or the clan's reputation.

"What was I supposed to think?"

When she didn't get an answer, she lowered her hands and looked over at Rai, and blinked at the fury on her face.

"That idiot, " she hissed.

"You can't tell anyone," Hari said, and grabbed Rai's arm when she looked mutinous. "I mean it, Rai-san. That's an order from your clan head's wife. I'm serious."

Rai took a deep breath, and nodded. "I understand."

Hari was silent on the rest of their walk home, lost in thought. She was feeling a little ashamed of the way she'd acted, refusing to even talk to Shikaku. She wasn't sure she could really blame Shikaku for wanting to be there for a friend. Hari wasn't exactly happy about him lying about having to work late, and if he ever put another woman in his lap again she would castrate him, but she was at least willing to talk to him now.

When she got home, however, there was a note on the table with her name written at the top. She picked it up, and sighed after reading it.

Hari,

I was hoping to finally corner you to talk this evening, but I've been called out on a mission with Inoichi and Chouza. I should be back in a few weeks. Please wait for me - I swear nothing happened. I love you.

-S

"Of course you'd go on a mission now," she whispered, and felt the rest of her anger drain away.

He loves me. She spent the rest of the day moving back into the master bedroom.

000

Shikaku had been gone for barely a day when Hinata showed up at Hari's door, a pale and shaking Neji leaning heavily against her. They had just sat down to dinner, Shikamaru humming in tired interest as Natsu held a picture she'd drawn of their little family up to him.

"For you, Shika-nii! Your office doesn't have any pictures at all! It's so boring." Hari had to stifle a chuckle at the scribbled mass of hair sticking straight out of the back of what had to be Shikaku and Shikamaru's heads.

Shikamaru's sleepy demeanor disappeared when Hinata and Hari entered the kitchen, practically dragging Neji between them. He flashed to them, and took him from them, wrapping Neji in his arms, who had started to shake uncontrollably.

"Neji," he whispered. "What -?"

"They know," Hinata whispered, anguished. "The elders, they found out about you and they -"

Hari swallowed at the look of devastation that flitted across Shikamaru's face at Hinata's declaration.

"They used the cursed seal," he said in a flat tone.

"Nii-san, is Neji-san okay?" Natsu asked, voice trembling, and the three adults jolted when they remembered the children were still in the room.

"Shikamaru, darling, take Neji into the guest room, okay? Hinata, do I need to call another medic?" The girl shook her head.

"No, he'll recover in a few hours."

Hari jerked her head in an approximation of a nod. Fury was building in her gut. How dare somebody put that look on Shikamaru's face? He was family, which made Neji family, and Hari was going to teach the idiots running the Hyuuga clan a lesson about human decency.

She sent a patronus to Rai, asking her to come pick up the twins, as Hari had something to deal with. After hugging a protesting Natsu and Eito and sending them off, she made her way to the guest room, and paused outside the door at the soft murmur of voices.

"They've set up a betrothal with a girl in the branch family," Hinata was saying. "They said if he didn't show up in a week to meet her, they'd activate the curse seal...all the way."

Hari leaned against the frame, jaw clenching at the sight of Shikamaru sitting on the bed, head in his hands, a still-pale Neji lying next to him. Hinata stood at the foot, arms crossed over her chest, and she looked furious.

"You have to go, Neji," Shikamaru said, voice strained. "You can't let them kill you."

"No," the boy said stoically, and Shikamaru jerked as though Neji had slapped him. "I will not marry somebody else. I won't betray you this way."

"Dammit! It's not a betrayal. I don't want you to die because of me."

Shikamaru sucked in a shuddering breath, and Hari swallowed past a lump in her throat when she saw that he was crying.

"If it's not a betrayal to you, it is one to myself. You said you would marry me if you could. Is that - did you mean it?" Hari looked away, feeling uncomfortable witnessing this moment. But she needed to hear Shikamaru's answer before she'd know if her half-formed plan was going to work.

"Of course I did. You know I did." Shikamaru whispered. "But...I'd rather you lived a lifetime with somebody else then one day with me."

"And I feel the opposite," Neji said with a small pained smile. "One day with you is worth ten thousand with somebody else."

"Hinata," Hari broke in, and the girl turned to her. "How much influence do you have over your clan?"

The girl tilted her head in thought. "With the younger generation? A lot. My father, I know, disagreed with the elders on this, but they hold power over the cursed seal as well."

Hari hummed. "And Naruto and the Hokage?"

"Legally, they can't do anything right now. The council is afraid to get involved because they don't want to set a precedent that it's okay to influence clan business." She sighed in frustration. "In a few years, I know I'll have the support and power I need to abolish the practice of the cursed seal. But right now..."

Hari closed her eyes in thought.

"Give me a moment," she murmured, then apparated into her office.

She moved to the filing cabinet and rifled through it until she found a folder marked Hyuuga, then apparated back into the room, making Hinata and Neji jump. Shikamaru was eyeing her with dawning hope in his eyes, and it just made her more determined.

"Shikamaru, Neji," she said in what Hermione had always labeled as her 'Commander Voice.'

"Listen to me. I won't let them do this. One way or another, you'll be free. I promise."

She then tossed the folder to Shikamaru.

"These are our contracts with the Hyuuga. Most of them are for medical assistance that the Nara provide their clan. We're going to break them. We'll say that it's because we're low on materials and can't make the limit, but the truth will be apparent. I want you to deal with it personally. I also want it spread around that the Hyuuga are persona non grata with our clan right now - if Neji and you are okay with it, tell them the reason. Sorry, Hinata," she said with a little grimace, but she was beaming at her.

"Hari-san, thank you." The girl bowed low. "Pressure from outside the clan might be exactly what we need. Nobody can live in a vacuum, after all."

Shikamaru was staring down at the folder in his hands.

"Dad..." he started uncertainly.

"Isn't here, which means I'm in charge," Hari said in a no-nonsense voice. "Besides, I'm pretty sure he'd agree with me. Do you think the Yamanaka and Akimichi would be on board with putting a little pressure on the Hyuuga?"

Shikamaru wiped his eyes, then smirked, straightening. Hari gave him a small smile, relieved to see the hopelessness fading from his eyes.

"Yeah, I think so. Especially since Inoichi and Chouza are on that mission with dad, which means Ino and Chouji are in charge."

"The Inuzuka might, as well," Hinata said thoughtfully. "They're always willing to poke at the stuffier clans. I'll go talk to Kiba," she said.

"And I'll go talk to Rai, then Chouji and Ino. They're in charge while their dads are out on a mission."

Shikamaru turned and kissed a shocked-looking Neji on the lips.

"It'll work out. I won't let them kill you," he said fiercely.

He kissed Hari on the cheek as he passed her on his way out.

"Thanks," he whispered.

Once he and Hinata were gone and Neji had fallen into a fitful sleep, Hari moved into her bedroom and to the trunk at the end of her and Shikaku's bed. She had some things to take care of before tomorrow.

"I solemnly swear I am up to no good," she muttered to herself as she set to work.

000

It took two days for them to give in and summon her. Hari took her time with her appearance, choosing a kimono in a bold red color, and pulling her hair back into a severe bun. She painted her lips a bright red to match her kimono and applied a thick coat of eyeliner. Rai raised her eyebrow at Hari's appearance, but other than a low appreciative whistle didn't comment.

They walked slowly through the compound, earning smirks from the clan members that at least guessed where they were heading. When they arrived in the conference room in the administration building, it took all her remembered training to keep from laughing out loud. Sitting at the head of the table was an irate-looking Tsunade. On the side with the wall to their backs, facing the door, were four very angry Hyuuga. Very angry, and very, very green - and not with jealousy.

Their skin was tinged a light, spring grass color. Their lips and hair were an identical dark forest green. Their eyes, usually the color of pearls, were now a sickly puce. Rai choked back a laugh as she went to stand behind the chair Hari had gracefully sat down in.

"You wanna tell me why the hell every elder member of one of our noble clans is green, Nara-san?" Tsunade hissed.

Hari blinked at her innocently.

"Do you need me to run some diagnostic spells, Hokage-sama?" she said in the sweetest voice she could muster.

"Do not play games with us," one of them spat. "We know you did this with your unnatural bloodline limit as some childish fit."

Hari raised an eyebrow. "Oh? You have proof of this?"

"Who else could it be?" another exploded. "We've heard of what you can do -"

"If you don't have any proof, then I don't see why I'm here," Hari said, causing the man's cheeks to turn a darker green in rage.

"In the past two days," a surprisingly calm Hiashi said, "Three clans, including your own, have stopped all business with the Hyuuga. Half the merchants in the street won't sell to us. Did you have anything to do with that?"

Hari met his eyes squarely. "The only people you can blame for that are yourselves. You threatened the life of Nara Shikamaru's lover, who, from what I understand, is a war hero himself. What did you expect?"

The room erupted into yelling after that, though Hari simply sat back and glared at the men across from her. Finally, Tsunade slammed a hand down on the table, cracking it.

"There's nothing I can do about the contracts with the other clans," she said frankly. "And Hari-san's right, there's no evidence that isn't circumstantial that points to her as the perpetrator of your...appearance." Tsunade's lips twitched, but other than that she kept her face serious.

"However, I wonder if there's anything you can do to fix it," she said this last bit to Hari, who hummed and took out her wand.

"If I may?" she said, and to her surprise Hiashi stood and walked over to her, ignoring the protests of his clan members as she waved a wand around him, allowing it to light up but not actually doing anything.

After all, she already knew how to remove the green, and what caused it. She'd grown up with Fred and George Weasley, after all.

"I could probably return you back to normal," she said with a shrug.

Tsunade sighed. "Well? Are you going to do it?"

Hari smirked. "Sure. As soon as they remove the caged bird seal from Neji-san and sign a marriage contract to Shikamaru-san for him."

"This is blackmail!"

"Preposterous!"

"Hokage-sama, do something!"

The only one not yelling was Hiashi, who actually seemed pleased.

"Enough!" Tsunade roared. "I cannot force Nara-san to use her powers. She's a civilian, and the wife of a clan head."

"Well," Hari said after a moment of stunned silence. "If you won't sign the contract and release Neji...I do hope for your sake that you're fond of the color green. I'm pretty sure it's permanent."

She stood, smoothing her kimono and moving towards the door.

"Will you also reinstate your contracts with us?" Hiashi asked.

Hari turned to him, eyes narrowing.

"Sure, though I can't speak for the other clans," she said bluntly.

Hiashi inclined his head. Hinata had been right - he wanted to see an end to the cursed seal, as well.

Three days later, the Hyuuga clan elders were no longer green, and Shikamaru was officially engaged. Her stepson had pulled her into a tight hug and thanked her profusely. Neji had bowed deeply, his forehead seal and bandage free.

"I am honored to be joining your family, Nara-sama," he said. Hari grinned at him.

"Call me Hari, please."

000

The other clans were still snubbing the Hyuuga elders, but Hinata had admitted they were making headway on the removal of the seal from branch members as a result. Pressure from both within the clan and outside of it had the elders backed into a corner.

Neji had moved into the Nara house, and though he was still reserved and calm Eito had latched onto him, following the man around like a duckling when they were both home. It was kind of adorable. Hari was putting together dinner when Shikamaru slouched into the kitchen a week after the engagement. She smiled as he leaned in and brushed his lips against her cheek.

"What's up? You have a mission?" Hari gestured towards the pack on his shoulders, and he nodded.

"Yeah. I'll be gone for a week or so. Suna asked for some backup with a group they're having issues with."

"Oh?" Hari asked, distracted by the leeks she was chopping.

"Mm-hmm. A group of anti-shinobi terrorists, or something. Apparently they've found a way to suppress chakra, and so they're having trouble getting close to them."

Hari frowned and gave him her full attention. "Shikamaru...that sounds dangerous."

He smirked at her. "That's why they asked for me. They need a good strategist. Come on, Hari, don't make that face, I'll be fine."

She sighed. "I know. Just be careful, alright?"

He nodded, then looked out the window at where Neji was sitting cross legged on the ground, talking to Eito and Natsu, who seemed fascinated with what he was saying.

"I'll keep an eye on him," Hari said softly.

"I know you will," he said with a shrug, and sent her a look of such fondness that she couldn't help but beam at him.

"Ugh, save it for dad. He's probably a monster by now, I don't envy Inoichi-jii and Chouza-jii," he grumbled, but pulled her into a hug.

"Bye, Shikamaru." She looked down at her hands after he pulled away.

"I love you," she said, her English heritage showing itself in her discomfort, then turned quickly to her task and concentrated on cutting vegetables.

He was silent for a minute.

"I love you too," he mumbled, obviously embarrassed, before darting out to the backyard to say goodbye to the twins and Neji.

Four evenings later the twins had gone to stay with Sasuke, who had just gotten back from wherever it was he went when he wasn't in the village. Hari couldn't tell whether he actually wanted them over, but he had said yes, so she'd shrugged it off. Shikaku was due back that night, and Hari wanted privacy for their talk.

A knock on her door had her looking up from her tea in confusion. Her heart dropped to her stomach when she saw Rai standing on the porch, obviously upset.

"Hari-sama, can I come in?" she asked, voice thick.

Hari numbly stepped back, following the woman into the kitchen.

"Hari-sama, I just talked to the Hokage." Rai took a deep breath. "The unit from Sand that Shikamaru-san was sent out with was captured."

Hari's breath hitched. "By - by the anti-shinobi group?"

Rai jerked a nod. "Yes."

"What are they doing? Who's on the rescue team?" Rai closed her eyes and swallowed.

"Rai?" Hari whispered.

"They can't get close to the base where they're holding Shikamaru-san," she said. "The Kazekage himself is trying. His brother and sister were both in the unit, too. There's some sort of field sucking the chakra from anybody who gets close and making them ill. Tsunade-sama has called in a favor from some samurai, since their chakra systems are less developed so they should have an easier time with the side effects, but they won't be here for a week -"

Hari stood abruptly and walked to her room, cutting off the Rai's uncharacteristic babble.

"Hari-sama!" Rai followed her as she dropped to her knees in front of her trunk and pulled out a bundle of canvas.

Then, urgency suddenly hitting her, she ran out to the yard and tossed the bundle to the ground. She took out her wand, and a few moments later her old tent popped into existence.

She darted inside and made a beeline for a dresser in the back. Rai had followed her in, and was now gaping around the tent.

"Woah..." she whispered.

Hari pulled out her old auror uniform, swallowing for a moment before taking off her dress, which she'd worn specially for Shikaku, as it was his favorite. She faltered for a moment as she thought of her husband. What she was about to do was a direct contradiction of his orders. But...she couldn't leave sweet, lazy Shikamaru in enemy hands for a week. Not when she could help him.

"Hari-san, what are you doing?" Rai asked, suspicious.

Hari didn't bother answering. She pulled on her leather pants and shirt, spelled to withstand stabbing, burning, and cutting. She then pulled her red fitted cloak on, wishing not for the first time that she had been carrying her invisibility cloak instead of Ron all those years ago.

"Hari-sama..." Rai said, more sternly. "Whatever you're thinking of doing..."

"Rai." The girl looked at her as Hari turned, the old feeling of her cloak twisting around her filling her with confidence.

She could do this. She had fought through a war, killed a dark wizard, and trained to be a fighter. Hari would not and could not leave Shikamaru behind.

"I'll be fine. But if I'm not back before Shikaku gets here...tell him we're fine, okay? And I'm sorry."

Rai's eyes widened in understanding. Too late, the girl sent her shadows soaring towards Hari, trying to trap her in place. With a small smile, Hari muttered the incantation that would connect her to the charms she'd put on an unsuspecting Shikamaru's earrings (yes, in direct violation of Shikaku's orders, but since when had Hari ever done what she was told?) and spun in place.

She popped into existence in a room lit by candles and a fireplace. She landed in a crouch, wand out, and froze. Chained to a wall, five feet away, was her stepson. He was shirtless, covered in blood, and gasping for air. A man stood in front of him, bloodied knife in hand, and stared stupidly at her, probably shocked by her abrupt appearance. Then the rage hit.

"Stupify," she snarled, and Shikamaru's torturer flew backwards and slammed against the wall with the force of her spell.

"Incarcerous." Ropes extended from her wand and wrapped snuggly around his unconcious body.

She scanned the room, then moved quickly to the door, peeking out into the stone corridor to make sure nobody had heard her entrance. Empty.

She then dashed over to Shikamaru, who was staring at her in disbelief.

"H-Hari?" he whispered, voice hoarse, and she had to blink back tears.

"Yes, of course it's me. You think I'd let them keep you?" she whispered before casting a hovering charm on him and releasing him from his chains. "Come on, let's get you to the hospital."

"No," he said around a groan of pain. "My team - they're here still, somewhere. I have to get them out. I just...fuck, whatever it is they're using to drain chakra makes my whole body feel like shit."

Hari eyed his torso. He was in no shape to save anybody. "Please, Hari. I can't leave them. It was my stupid plan that got us captured..."

He sounded so broken up that she put a hand to the side of his face that wasn't bruised.

"Don't worry, darling. We'll save them, I promise."

He sagged in relief, then shot her a look of confusion as she reached up to fiddle with his earring, removing it and setting it on the tray next to instruments she was working hard not to look too closely at.

"What..." he rasped, and she smirked.

"I charmed it while you were sleeping," she said a little smugly. "So I could save you if you needed it."

"But why..." his eyes widened in realization just as she latched firmly onto his arm.

They appeared in the Konoha hospital waiting room.

"We need a medic!" she called out.

After a moment of shocked silence at their sudden appearance, they were surrounded where they were kneeling on the floor, greenlit hands reaching for them.

Shikamaru was weakly holding onto her arm, a look of desperation on his face. She easily pulled away from his grip, something she never would have been able to do if he wasn't halfway unconscious from blood loss and whatever was affecting his chakra.

"Don't you dare," he growled.

She sent him an apologetic look before stepping out of the crowd and apparating back to the room he'd been chained in.

After making sure Shikamaru's torturer was still out of commission, she picked up the earring and pocketed it, assuming Shikamaru might want it back at the end of all this. She then cast a disillusionment charm on herself and slipped into the empty corridor. Hari berated herself for not getting more information about where his team was being held before dropping him off at the hospital. With a sigh, she turned right, since the left seemed to be a dead end.

It was cool in the stone hallway, but not overly cold despite there being no obvious source of heat. Did that mean she was in Suna? Probably, since that's where Shikamaru had been heading. She crept forward until she came across a set of stairs leading down. She nibbled on her lip, then decided down was probably her best bet if she was looking for some sort of holding cell.

After half an hour, she finally found what she was looking for. She heard them before she saw them.

"Hey, assholes! What did you do with Shikamaru, huh? You better hope he's still okay when I get out of this, you fuckwads!" a woman was yelling.

Hari's lips twitched and she peeked around the corner. At the end of the hall was a large metal door, two men posted outside of it. Hari took a deep breath, then stepped around the corner, sending two stupefies at them. Since they weren't ninja, they didn't dodge in time, and went down with two soft thumps.

The people on the other side of the door went silent. Hari moved quickly down the hallway, searching the pockets of the two men until she found what she was looking for - keys. With a smile of triumph, she quickly tied them up, then stood, fumbling with the keys until she found the right one. Remembering her training, she stood to the side of the door, then reached over and turned the knob, pushing it open but not moving into the doorway.

"This is Nara Hari," she called. "Of Leaf Village."

She held her breath, then let it out as a weak voice answered.

"Thank fuck. This is Kankuro, Temari, and Jaruna Hana of Sand Village. If you took out the two guards, then you're clear for now."

Hari peeked around the corner, then slipped into the room, wand firmly in hand, not dropping her defensive position. At the end of the room was a metal cage with three worse-for-wear shinobi locked inside. What drew her attention, though, was a large, orange stone glowing weakly on a table in the middle of the room. Was that what was causing the chakra drain? She slipped around it and hurried towards the cage.

All three of the people in it had the same sickly pallor Shikamaru did when she'd found him. They weren't even chained, as they were obviously too weak to try for an escape.

"Alohamora," Hari whispered, and the door opened with a click.

"What..." A blonde kunoichi whispered. "Holy shit, Shikamaru wasn't exaggerating. He totally has a magical princess for a stepmother."

Hari sighed and opened her mouth to answer but was cut off by shouting.

"Shit," she whispered in English. "Shit, shit, shit."

She couldn't apparate out with all three of them at once, but didn't want to risk leaving one behind even for just a few moments. Her mind raced, and then the decision was taken from her as a man with an honest-to-god crossbow burst into the room. She hastily erected a shield, wincing when a bolt stopped about an inch from her face.

"Get down!" she hissed, then rolled as another man dove at her from the side.

Six large men had come into the room, and were now focusing all of their attention on killing her. She dodged, rolled, and threw spells as carefully as she could, not wanting to hit any of her allies, who were valiantly trying (and failing) to fight past their obvious sickness.

Finally, to buy herself some time, she sent a patronus out, causing everyone in the room to flail and dash away from the thundering hooves. Hari looked around frantically - it was only a matter of time before they figured out her patronus couldn't actually hurt them.

Her eyes fell on the stone. She could feel the energy pouring from it. It was different from magic - much different, but there was no denying it was there. Taking a deep breath, she stood, knowing she was making herself a tempting target, and prayed her plan would work.

"Reducto!"

The world exploded.

000

Shikaku stared at the rapidly approaching gates in apprehension, Inoichi and Chouza silent shadows beside him. Silent, because they were tired of him snapping at every little thing that they said. Their mission had gone on longer than it was supposed to, thanks to long winded, stubborn diplomats, and only Inoichi's fast thinking and Chouza's cheerful demeanor had kept Shikaku from causing an international incident.

"For fuck's sake, Shikaku, what the hell happened?" Inoichi had finally yelled at him on the sixth day of their mission. "Either you tell me, or I swear Chouza will hold you down and I will pull the information from your head."

Shikaku had sulked for about five minutes before finally giving in and telling them what happened.

"She'll never forgive me," he'd said a little more pathetically than he'd intended at the end of it, unable to look up at their expressions.

"You should have seen her face - god." He'd rubbed his hands over his hair roughly.

"I imagine she was pretty devastated," to Shikaku's surprise it was laid back Chouza who said that in a voice heavy with disapproval.

Inoichi sighed. "I can't believe you told her you were working late. Why didn't you just tell her the truth?"

"I was a little distracted with my suicidal childhood friend," Shikaku snapped, then flopped back to lay on the bed he'd been sitting on.

"I panicked, alright? I'm not in love with Michi, but she's still a good friend who went through something awful."

"So you put her in your lap?" Chouza asked in disbelief.

Shikaku winced. "I know, alright? I was honestly just comforting her. God, she was telling me details about her -" he cut himself off. "Just trust me, there was nothing remotely sexual or romantic about that moment."

Inoichi hummed. "Well, you screwed up, but Hari's a kind person, and she's pretty selfless. Once she finally lets you within twenty feet of her person so you can explain I'm sure she'll forgive you." Silence, and then a snicker. Shikaku sat up and glared at Inoichi.

"In what world is this remotely funny?" He growled. Inoichi shook his head and flapped a hand at him.

"It's not, not really. I guess it's just strange to see you acting like an angsty teenager. Over a princess. A magical princess."

Shikaku groaned as Chouza joined in with his own chuckles, knowing the rest of their mission was going to be unbearable. His prediction was correct, both because of his temper and his friends' teasing.

He wondered if Hari would willingly talk to him yet. The plan with the shadows had failed, but he'd come up with a few other options for cornering his slippery wife. No wonder she wasn't worried about a kidnapping.

All thoughts of his upcoming conversation with Hari were put on hold when they reported in to Tsunade. Inoichi and Chouza had both put hands on his shoulders when she delivered the news. Shikamaru was captured, with no way out. Not even Gaara of the desert could get to him. Shikaku was a shinobi, so instead of dropping to his knees in despair he squared his shoulders and looked his Hokage in the eye.

"Permission to retrieve my son."

Tsunade closed her eyes and swore.

"Dammit, Shikaku, you know I can't let you do that. All that will accomplish is to get both of you captured. I've called in a favor with Iron, and they're sending over some samurai -" she was cut off when her door burst open with a flurry of shouts.

Shikaku spun around, a kunai already in his hand, before jerking to a stop.

Standing in front of him, shoulders heaving, blood running down his shirtless torso and shaking in exhaustion and probably blood loss was his son. Shikaku took a few stuttering steps forward, and caught Shikamaru as he fell.

"Shikamaru, what...?"

Sakura and Neji Hyuuga came barrelling in after him, Sakura screaming at Shikamaru to, "Sit the hell down, you idiot Nara! Let me at least stop the bleeding before you go running off!"

Neji knelt on the other side of Shikamaru and helped Shikaku lower him to the floor. They were both unceremoniously pushed out of the way when Tsunade came to kneel next to Sakura.

"Report!" she snapped.

"Shikamaru appeared in the hospital waiting room with Nara Hari-sama twenty minutes ago," Sakura said tersely as she ran her hand over his torso, sliced skin healing under her hand.

Tsunade straightened his broken nose with a crack that had both Neji and Shikaku flinching and reaching forward, though his son seemed too preoccupied to even notice.

"He has extreme chakra depletion and torture wounds. Hari-sama disappeared right after she dropped him off, and at that point he became agitated and insisted on coming to see you. He didn't take no for an answer," Sakura growled, and set a finger with a little more force than Shikaku thought was strictly necessary.

"She went back," Shikamaru slurred, eyes moving to find his father's. "Dad, she went back to save my team."

His world narrowed down into extreme focus at his son's words.

"Please, you have to let me go get her. She - there's at least a dozen men in that fortress."

"I'm going to kill her," he breathed, pulling the room's attention to him. "I'm going to save her, and then I'm going to kill her."

"Yeah, I doubt that's the way to gain her forgiveness. Alright, I guess we're going back out," Inoichi said, and Chouza hummed his agreement.

"Hey! Who's the Hokage here?" Tsunade snapped, but sighed. "Fine. Choose a fourth."

She pushed Shikamaru down as he tried to sit up. "Not you. Preferably somebody who can walk."

"Shikaku-sama, if I may," Neji said, stepping forward, and Shikamaru's eyes snapped to him.

If Shikaku had doubted that his son loved the other boy before, he certainly didn't anymore. He knew that look - he saw it in the mirror everyday.

"I would like to volunteer as the fourth member of your team."

"I'll come along as your medic," an equally calm voice said from the doorway, and Tsunade growled as Hinata entered the room.

"What is this, a party? Fine! Take five members, I don't care. Who needs to take paying missions, anyway?" she grumbled.

"Neji..." Shikamaru said in a small voice.

His long hair swung as he knelt next to Shikamaru and took his hand.

"As your fiancé - " Shikaku choked at the word. What in the world had been going on while he was gone? " - it is my duty and privilege to help Shikaku-sama retrieve your stepmother. I also feel I owe her, as without her intervention I would be dead or stuck in a loveless marriage."

It was then that Shikaku noticed something that he never would have missed in the first place if his son wasn't lying in front of him with torture wounds telling him his wife was attempting to infiltrate a fortress. Neji's forehead was as bare as Hinata's.

"Your seal..." he said, and Neji tipped his head towards him and smiled.

"Mamahaha's been busy," Shikamaru said wryly, then winced as Sakura poked at a rib. "Alright. Go get Hari. Don't die." he grumbled.

Neji bowed his head and stood.

"I am ready when you are," he said.

And that's how Shikaku found himself running out of the gates barely an hour after he'd entered them, on his way to Suna with his future son-in-law.

He spent the first few hours of the run remembering the things Michi had told him about her captivity, and couldn't help but replace her face with that of Hari's. The thought of his wife being subjected to that almost brought him to his knees, and only Chouza's steady hand under his elbow kept him from taking a nosedive off a tree.

"Ino told me what she saw in Hari-san's memories," Inoichi said in a quiet voice from his other side. "You married a strong woman, Shikaku. She'll be fine.

"Yes, she's very determined," Hinata said from where she was running behind them. "When she found out that my clan planned to force Neji into a marriage on threat of death or torture, Hari-sama did everything she could to stop it."

"So how exactly did my wife manage that, anyway?" Shikaku asked, and there was a suspicious silence behind them.

"Perhaps it would be better to let Shikamaru or Hari-sama discuss it with you," Neji finally said, and if Shikaku wasn't mistaken, he sounded nervous.

Shikaku exchanged significant looks with his friends.

"Kid, I could use the distraction. Just tell me."

"She may have...cancelled all of the Nara clan's contracts with the Hyuuga," Hinata said.

Shikaku couldn't even muster the emotional energy to be upset about the political fallout he'd no doubt be dealing with for the next forever.

"A few other clans followed suit, which put significant pressure on my clan."

A beat, then, "I am going to kill my daughter," Inoichi said, and Chouza sighed deeply.

"So that was it? They caved and let Neji become engaged to my son and removed his curse mark?"

Silence again.

"Ah. Well, Hari-san may have done some additional...bartering to sweeten the deal," Neji finally answered in a carefully level voice.

"Spit it out. Did she sign away our firstborn?"

Shikaku's exasperation and impatience must have been obvious, because this time it was Hinata who answered.

"She offered to help the elders out with a situation that had arisen."

Shikaku looked uneasily over at Inoichi. This did not sound good.

"Situation?"

"Yes. It seemed all of the elders had been turned...green. For some reason they were unable to cover it with even a henge."

He was pretty sure the woman was holding back laughter.

"Green. My wife turned the elders of your clan green, and wouldn't change them back until they agreed to her terms," Shikaku summarized in a flat tone.

Oh god, this was a political nightmare.

"...there is no concrete evidence that proves she was the one who turned them green. She was, in fact, with me that whole evening, helping me recover."

"This is what you get for marrying a revolutionary turned princess," Inoichi grumbled, and Shikaku couldn't even argue the point.

They only rested once for a few hours on the way to Suna. By the time they arrived Shikaku's face probably resembled a thundercloud, and he was having trouble keeping his temper and worry under control.

"Shikaku, I know you're upset, but you're going to need to stop looking like death incarnate before you make the guards shit their pants," Chouza muttered.

Shikaku stopped, and for the first time noticed the uneasy way the Suna nin were looking at him. A glance at the ground confirmed that there was a roiling mass of shadows around him, ready to lash out at any moment.

Shikaku closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths, forcing himself to release his hold on his chakra. He hadn't lost control like that since the third shinobi war. He had to pull himself together if he was going to be of any use on this rescue mission. He'd barely opened his eyes when there was a swirl of sand and the Kazekage himself appeared in front of them.

"Shikaku-sama, welcome," Gaara said as his brother appeared on one side of him and his sister on the other.

He stared. "I thought you two were captured," he said slowly, and Kankuro grinned.

"We were, until your wife busted us all outta there. Man, you really lucked out with that one," he said cheerfully, and Gaara sighed.

"Kankuro," he said, and his brother shut up.

Shikaku took a step forward, suddenly intent on the boy, who leaned back, nervous. "Hari, is she alright?"

Gaara hesitated, and if Shikaku was anyone else he would have swayed as he went lightheaded.

"She is in our hospital. Come, I will fill you in while we walk."

Shikaku moved into step beside the Kazekage, ignoring the murmuring conversation between Hinata and Temari behind her about Shikamaru's condition. Shikaku listened carefully to the Kazekage's report on what had happened to Hari - she'd been caught in a blast radius that resulted when she destroyed the stone that had been responsible for the chakra drain on Shikamaru's team.

"She is still unconscious, though my medics believe she will wake soon," Gaara finished.

Shikaku studied him. He had a feeling he wasn't being told everything, but didn't push for more information as they entered the hospital.

When they got to her room, Shikaku paused at the entrance, taking in his wife's still form on the bed. He took a shuddering breath before moving quickly to her side, reaching out to pick up her small pale hand in his larger tanned one.

He brushed her hair off her forehead, revealing the faded lightning bolt.

"Oh, sweetheart," he said, then leaned down and placed his lips to the scar.

Hinata had moved to the end of the bed and picked up the chart. A small gasp left her mouth, and her eyes darted to the Kazekage, who somehow looked uncomfortable despite his facial expression remaining as blank as ever.

"What," Shikaku growled out, but Hinata simply ignored him, obviously deep in medic mode.

"Everybody out except Shikaku-sama," she said brusquely as she moved to Hari's side and started pulling down the blanket.

When nobody moved, she lifted her head and narrowed her eyes. "Now."

Chouza gripped Shikaku's shoulder before shuffling out with the rest of the team and the sand siblings, closing the door behind him. Hinata had lifted Hari's shirt, revealing the pale skin of her abdomen, and and was hovering hand over her stomach. After a moment, her shoulders slumped in relief.

"Hinata-chan," Shikaku snapped, and she jumped, having forgotten he was there.

"Oh! U-um Shikaku-sama." He raised an eyebrow at her, and she squared her shoulders. "Were you aware that Hari-san is pregnant?"

He would deny to his dying day that his vision momentarily blacked out.

000

Hari awoke slowly, confused. She blinked at the ceiling, recognizing that she was in a hospital. Her thoughts were a little sluggish, and her head was throbbing, so it took a few moments for her memories to return. When they did, she sat up with a gasp.

"Shikamaru!"

An intake of breath next to her, and then a face that she hadn't seen for weeks appeared in front of her. His hair was messy and there were bags beneath his eyes, and he looked wrecked.

"He's fine, sweetheart. Everybody's fine," he said in a rough voice.

She took let that sink in, and then fell forward into his arms when she remembered their fight. He wrapped them around her and buried his face in her hair.

"Don't ever do something like this to me again," he whispered. "I was so afraid that I'd lost you when I found out you went back to that fortress."

Not wanting to make a promise she knew she wouldn't keep, Hari changed the subject.

"I talked to Michi, and she told me what happened that night." S

hikaku stiffened, and he pulled back enough to look at her face.

"Oh sweetheart, I'm sorry I was such an idiot. I promise, there's nobody I want except you. She was just -"

Hari shook her head once to cut him off.

"She told me. I understand that you wanted to help your friend, and I don't blame you for it. But Shikaku," she pinned him in place with piercing green eyes, "You ever put another woman in your lap that isn't one of our children, and I swear to god, I will show you a spell I learned on the beat while I was in training as an auror that witches used to castrate their cheating husbands. And next time you tell me you're working late, it had better be the truth."

Shikaku shivered a little at the threat, and gave a short nod.

"I promise. It won't happen again."

She mumbled something that sounded a little like "Damn right it won't," and he couldn't help but give her a fond smile. He was reminded of something else that they needed to talk about, and his smile faded.

"Hari, the doctors told me something, and I need to know," he took her hands in his. "Hari, did you know that you're pregnant?"

She stared at him in disbelief.

"I - I'm what?" she whispered.

Her thoughts raced for a moment before they halted in realization. "Wait - oh my god, the explosion. Is - is the baby okay?"

"Hinata says it's fine," he reassured her, then stilled in panic when she burst into tears.

"I - are you not happy?" he finally asked, and was completely shocked when she started crying harder.

"I'm a terrible mother!" She wailed, and he pulled her to him.

"Don't be ridiculous," he soothed. "You're going to be amazing. You already take such good of the twins and Shikamaru."

"The twins! Oh my god, I left them with Rai. They must be so worried! See, I am a terrible mother," she sobbed. "I abandoned my six year old siblings and got caught in an explosion while I was pregnant and - and -"

"And you saved your step-son from torture and probably death," he said firmly, ignoring the fact that he had meant to scold her for blatantly ignoring him when he told her not to create charms for Shikamaru and himself.

Wait - did she put one of her charms on him? He forced his mind away from that train of thought, especially since the idea of her secretly tagging him with a charm just made him feel possessive.

"Sweetheart, you're going to be such a good mother. You've made me so happy."

She sniffled into his shoulder.

"Really?" She mumbled, and he forced himself not to chuckle at how adorable she was.

"Really," he said, and leaned back to cup her cheeks in his hands. He smiled into her wide green eyes. "I'm probably the happiest man in the whole damn Elemental Nations right now."

"Really?" She whispered again, and he nodded.

"How could I not be? I have you," he placed a large hand on her stomach, "and soon we'll have baby."

He leaned forward and kissed her softly. "Only an idiot wouldn't be happy."

Hari leaned against him for a few minutes, and he felt his body releasing tension he'd been holding for weeks. Tsume had been right when she'd given him shit right after the wedding. He really was whipped.

"Did you mean it?" Hari's voice said sleepily from his shoulder.

"Hm?"

She fidgeted, and he pulled back, bemused. She kept her eyes focused her hands, and he was pleased to see her cheeks go red, even if he had no idea why it was happening.

"What you said in your letter."

Shikaku smirked.

"Letter...?"

She looked up at him, and when she saw his expression her eyes narrowed.

"Never mind, forget it," she mumbled, and lay back down with a flop and wince, then turned away from him in a sulk.

Shikaku sighed, then carefully laid his large bulk out behind her, wrapping his arm around her waist and pulling her to him. She remained stiff, and he nuzzled his nose in her hair. It smelled like ash and antiseptic, and it was a sobering reminder that he'd come close to losing her. Serious again, he tugged at her until she turned stiffly in his arms.

"Look at me, sweetheart."

Her emerald eyes focused on his own, and he lifted a hand to cup her face.

"Hari, I love you. I meant it." He waited patiently while she studied him before breaking into a shy smile.

"I love you too," she said with a quiet surety that seemed to sucked the breath from his lungs.

Shikaku leaned forward to give her another gentle kiss, which she returned enthusiastically - a little too enthusiastically, if the way they were tangled together when a throat cleared at the door was any indication. Hari squeaked and pulled back, and Shikaku reluctantly released his grip on her hair. With a sigh, he sat up and leaned against the wall behind the bed, then pulled at a protesting Hari until she finally gave in and sat between his outstretched legs with a put upon sigh, leaning her back against his chest.

"I see you are feeling better, Hari-sama," Hinata said, amused despite her red cheeks.

Hari stiffened as she remembered why she had a headache and felt like she'd been in an unfortunate incident with a battering ram.

"Shikaku said I'm pregnant. The baby -"

"The baby is fine, Hari-sama," Hinata said, moving quickly to put her hand on Hari's. "I'd suggest you take it easy for the duration of your first trimester, just to be sure, but you passed every checkup with flying colors."

Hari squeezed the girl's hand in thanks as she relaxed.

"I could have sworn I was caught in an explosion. How am I basically fine? I mean, other than the whole sleeping for how many ever days," she added hastily when Shikaku stiffened behind her.

How could she be so cavalier about her health? Well, if she thought she was lifting more than a glass of water for the next few months...

"Well...the Sand siblings said something about you wearing some sort of protective leather?"

"Oh!" Hari said. "That's right, my Auror's uniform."

Shikaku made a questioning noise in the back of his throat, and she twisted to look at him, not seeming to notice the way she winced in discomfort as she smiled at him. And damn, that cheeky grin was cute.

"Fire-proof, knife-proof, and it even cushions blows a bit."

"Hmm. Maybe you should wear it all the time," he muttered, and didn't bother trying to dodge the elbow she sent into his stomach before she turned back to a gently smiling Hinata.

"So how far along am I? Do we know the sex? Wait, don't tell us. Or do!"

Shikaku chuckled and wrapped his arms around her torso, not bothering to hide the way he laid his hands over her abdomen. When she laced her fingers with his own, his heart stuttered in his chest, making him feel like a goddamned teenager.

"You're about five weeks along, Hari-sama. Too soon to tell the gender, I'm afraid," Hinata said, then straightened, and Shikaku turned his sharp eyes to her when he realized she was going into report mode.

"I sent Tsunade-sama a request for another heavy hitter to escort us back to Konoha," she said seriously, and Shikaku frowned.

"You don't think my team, plus you and Neji are enough?" he asked, concerned.

Hinata hesitated, then shook her head.

"It probably would be, but...the information on Hari-sama's pregnancy has already leaked." Shikaku's body went cold.

"What," he said in a low voice, and would have dove out of bed to start cracking some heads together if it weren't for Hari's comforting hands on his own.

Hinata, to her credit, didn't even flinch. Actually, the heiress seemed a little pissed off.

"One of the nurses that helped with Hari-sama when she first arrived in Suna had too much to drink and bragged about being one of the first people to know about it."

"And I dealt with her personally, I assure you," the Kazekage said from the doorway, and Shikaku had to keep himself from flinching.

Or, you know, trying to impale the kid with shadows. Hari's hand squeezed his more firmly, probably more to keep him in place than to comfort him.

Shikaku narrowed his eyes.

"Kazekage-sama," he greeted. "Let me introduce you to my wife, Nara Hari." Gaara bowed.

"I'd like to personally thank you for saving the team I sent out, and to apologize for the trouble that I know one of my own has caused you."

"Oh, um. That's fine, Kazekage-sama. How is the rest of the team? They seemed pretty ill when I found them," Hari said politely.

"They are fine, thank you for asking." Gaara turned to Hinata, who straightened under his regard.

"I sent a message to Tsunade-sama to let her know I would personally be escorting you to Konoha. As Nara-sama was only put into danger of kidnapping because of one of my subordinates, it only makes sense that I personally ensure her safety. There is also the matter of transportation. I know you would probably prefer that she not walk all that way, and a wagon may be too jarring."

Gaara raised himself into the air a few inches on a platform of sand. "I would offer a more comfortable and faster mode of transport for her, I think."

Hari had stiffened, and was probably getting ready to protest.

"That would be appreciated, Kazekage-sama," Shikaku said firmly.

Annoyingly, it was Hinata's nod and steady gaze that had Hari leaning back against him in sulking acceptance.

That is how he ended up traveling back to Konoha with his future son-in-law, the Kazekage, and a temperamental wife.

000

The first thing Hari did when she got home was step into the shower. Shikamaru, Rai, Eito, and Natsu had met them at the gates, and she'd spent twenty minutes being alternatively hugged and scolded. Shikamaru had held a grudge for about fifteen minutes, barely even looking at her, until she'd actually been on the verge of tears.

Then he'd panicked and spent the next two minutes awkwardly comforting her. Hari wondered if it was too early in the pregnancy to blame hormones. Then she almost exploded with joy because she was pregnant. With Shikaku's child. Shikaku, who loved her, and who was also climbing into the shower with her.

Without speaking, he tipped shampoo into his hands and began working it into her hair. Hari closed her eyes and hummed with pleasure. After a few minutes he tipped her hair back under the water, gently working the suds out with his hands. When he was done, he poured her jasmine-scented soap onto a washcloth and ran it across her body. She shivered at the feeling of his large, warm hands on her. When he was done, she stepped under the spray, pulling him in after her.

Then, she returned the favor, gently washing his hair and body until all of the grime from the road was gone. After he was rinsed and clean, they stared at eachother for a moment. Hari stepped forward and wrapped her arms around his neck, tipping her head back in invitation.

He let out a low groan before bringing his lips to her throat, kissing and lapping at the water there. Her arousal hit her so hard and fast that her legs went wobbly. Instead of trying to stay upright, she let her body gently drop to her knees until his arousal was eye level.

"Sweetheart, you don't have to -" he started, then cut off with a curse when she leaned forward and slowly took him into her mouth.

She'd gotten better at this since the first time she tried it, and savored the way he shuddered as her lips wrapped around him and she worked her tongue up and down his length.

The steam wisped around her, the warm water pounded down on her back, and Hari felt like they were the only two people in the world. One hand was tangled in her hair, and when she glanced up at him through clumped, wet lashes, she saw the other was against the tiled wall, supporting him.

His wet hair was trailing rivulets of water down his broad shoulders and chest, and his scars were vivid on his face. When her gaze moved to his, which were dark with lust and pleasure but still somehow completely focused on her, Hari's body clenched in arousal, and she moaned around him.

Pulling off of him with a pop, ignoring the string of saliva that connected her lip to his erection, she stared up at him.

"Shikaku, please, I need -"

With a growl, he reached down and hauled her up against him, taking her lips in a rough kiss. His hands ran down over the small of her back and the soft curve of her ass before reaching her thighs. She squeaked when he slid his hands around the back of them and easily lifted her, but barely faltered as she wrapped her arms and legs around him. He turned and pressed her against the warm, slippery tile on the wall.

"I won't drop you, I promise," he whispered as he thrust himself against her, making her moan.

"I know you won't, just please, Shikaku, I need you now -"

He didn't waste any time reaching down between them to position himself at her entrance. When he thrust himself inside of her with one long motion, they both groaned, and Hari tipped her head back against the wall.

Without waiting, he began to thrust against her with powerful rolling movements, his hands holding her hips in place as they supported her weight. His pelvis was rubbing against her clit with every movement, and he was sucking and biting at her neck.

"I love how strong you are," she gasped into the air. "I love that you can hold me up and fuck me against any surface -" Hari was pretty sure she'd be embarrassed later at the things falling out of her mouth, but the way he stilled, then groaned lowly and began pushing into her in earnest only made the whole thing more pleasurable.

"You're so beautiful," he whispered against her ear before taking the lobe into his mouth. "You feel so good around me, baby."

His hips were starting to stutter, and she clenched against him as her own pleasure built, and he growled against her throat.

"Are you going to come? Oh fuck, you are. You're so fucking gorgeous when you come on my cock, god this feels too good. I can't -" He pushed into her three more times before stilling and shuddering against her.

Hari's breath hitched as she felt him twitch inside of her. He stood still for a long moment before swearing and gently putting her on her feet. Then he was dropping to his knees and putting his mouth exactly where she needed it.

Hari swallowed as he sealed his lips around her and sucked. When he pushed two fingers into her, she arched against him and came with a gasp. Too weak to hold herself up, she started to slide down the wall. He chuckled, then stood and caught her, directing her under the spray and cleaning them both up again. He silently led her out of the shower and dried her off, and she sighed in pleasure at the feeling of her own fluffy towels around her again.

Shikaku efficiently dressed them both into pajamas before tucking her into bed and sliding in after her. She was half asleep, face buried in his shoulder, when he spoke in a worried voice.

"Was I too rough with you?"

Hari frowned, and pulled back to look up into uncharacteristically unsure eyes.

"No. That was good. Really good."

His expression turned into a self-satisfied smirk, a much more familiar expression on his face.

"Of course it was. But, Hinata said you should take it easy..."

"I didn't run a marathon," Hari grumbled, still annoyed from all the fussing everybody had done on the journey.

Even the Kazekage had fretted in his own way. If she ever heard the words "Is the sand to your liking?" again it would be too soon.

"Actually, it was all over rather quickly -"

She broke out into laughter when he growled and started tickling her.

"I couldn't help it," he finally grumbled. "It's been weeks. And you're unfairly sexy."

Hari stared at his face in disbelief for a minute.

"Nara Shikaku," she said slowly. "Are you pouting?"

"No," he said a little too quickly. "I'm defending my manly honor -"

She laughed into his shoulder, and he huffed. Biting her lip, she went up on an elbow, then leaned forward and kissed him softly.

"Don't worry, I have no complaints about your manly honor. I'm quite satisfied."

His smug smirk returned, and she smiled at him fondly.

"I love you," she said, and was rewarded with his crooked smile.

"I love you too."

Another kiss, and then she snuggled against her husband and fell asleep, hope for the future a bright light in the back of her mind.

000

Hari was kidnapped when she was seven months pregnant, because Shikaku and Shikamaru weren't terrifyingly overprotective enough as it was. She was roughly the size of the Hokage tower, and had just finished having a spectacularly therapeutic row with her husband and his son. Any maturity she may have gained as she got older in regards to controlling her temper flew out the window with pregnancy, it seemed.

"I'm perfectly capable of carrying a bag of groceries!" she screamed at them after a frustrating outing to the market.

They looked equal parts alarmed and stubborn, and she would have laughed at the identical expressions that said I don't want to die but I won't be backing down on this on their faces if she wasn't so infuriated.

Rai stood in the background, leaning against the wall and enjoying the show. The other woman was just as annoyed as Hari, as they kept popping up 'just to hang out' during her shifts. Both women knew that was man code for 'make sure Hari doesn't break a nail or something equally disastrous."

"We just want to make sure you don't push yourself too hard, princess," Shikaku said in soothing voice that only increased her level of rage.

"You don't respect me!" she yelled, and everybody stilled as her hair started to spark and a vase exploded on the other side of the room. "You and Shikamaru think I'm just some princess who can't take care of herself. And - and -"

To her eternal horror and annoyance, she burst into tears. The scale of their emotions tipped into 'completely panicked' as both Nara men put their hands in the air and shook their heads, fluttering towards her.

"No! That's not -" Shikamaru said, eyes darting around for an escape route.

"Just because I'm not a kunoichi like - like Rai or - or Michi doesn't mean I can't carry a bag of groceries!"

Shikaku slumped into a sulk at the mention of his ex - would his past never stop haunting him? - and Hari abruptly stopped talking.

"I'm going for a walk in the clan forest with Rai. If you follow me, I'll hang you upside down for two hours. Don't think I won't!"

Rai sighed and shot them both a disapproving look before putting her arms around the sniffling woman and leading her out of the house. They didn't follow, knowing full well she'd make good on her promise. Shikamaru had spent some time dangling morosely in the front yard by his ankles just last week after calling her a 'troublesome woman.'

"This is such a drag," Shikamaru muttered as he fell back onto the couch.

He glanced over at his father's morose expression where he was leaning against the wall and sighed.

"She's not really still sore about Michi, you know. Ino said her temper would be on a hair trigger for awhile. Hormones." Shikamaru shuddered. "This is why I prefer men."

"You know, Hari-sama's still on the front porch," a calm voice said in the doorway, and Shikamaru sat up in alarm, eyes darting around the room, expecting a sparking and yelling stepmother to burst through the door in a fit of righteous fury at any moment.

He glared at his fiancé as he floated into the room, all haughty grace and smug amusement. Damn him for being so sexy, anyway. Shikamaru grudgingly accepted a kiss from him - he couldn't think of any situation where he'd turn that down - before complaining.

"That wasn't funny," he sulked, and Shikaku chuckled, tipping his chin in greeting at Neji.

"It kind of was."

His father was looking at the door, and twitching towards it.

"Dad, she might actually kill you if you try to stalk her right now. My little sister can't come out fast enough," he grumbled, though he couldn't help the small smile that graced his features at the thought of his soon-to-be sibling.

Eito and Natsu had shown him just how much he liked the big brother role. He hadn't been aware that things as adorable as the twins even existed until they'd suddenly appeared in his life.

"Well you two aren't making it easy on her," Neji chided even as he ran a comforting hand across Shikamaru's back. "Don't you think you're taking the protectiveness a little far?"

Their answer came in the form of a pale and shaking Rai bursting through the door a few minutes later. Shikaku took one look at the arrows puncturing her body and his whole body went cold. Neji stood quickly.

"Shikaku-sama," the girl said, and fell to her knees. "They took her! I'm so sorry, I tried to stop them but they had some sort of stone that sucked my chakra away -"

He was reminded at that moment just how young Rai really was.

"Nara, report," he barked, pulling her out of her panic.

To her credit, she immediately snapped to attention.

"We were walking through the clan lands - towards the clearing that Hari-san likes to do her stretches in. I started to feel ill and shaky after a few minutes, so we decided to turn back. At that point, five assailants appeared. Two men, three women, all of them carrying crossbows. Trained in fighting but not shinobi. They tossed orange, glowing stones at us. I became weak with chakra depletion almost immediately. I fought, but was severely compromised. They managed to wound me," she said, gesturing at the three bolts buried in her.

Not life threatening if treated soon, as far as he could tell.

"Hari then stepped in front of me, and they stopped shooting. One of them said 'don't hit the princess - we need her and the child alive.' They then hit me on the back of the head and grabbed her. I was disoriented but not knocked out. I tried to follow but -" Shikaku was taking deep, steady breaths.

Somebody had taken his wife. They were going to die.

000

Hari leaned back in the surprisingly comfortable bed she'd been placed in and fingered the elder wand. Her captors had taken her wands from her, but it always came to her when she called.

Her mind raced with options. She could try to escape, but she would probably end up needing to fight her way out, and she didn't want to risk the baby. Hari remembered from conversations she'd been part of in the mommy group back when she was raising Teddy that women weren't supposed to apparate in the later months of the pregnancy. It almost always induced an early and difficult labor, so that was out. She could try to send a patronus for help, but it was a little flashy, and her captors would almost definitely notice it.

Hari was pretty sure Shikaku would come for her soon, anyway. While it grated on her to wait for rescue, it was the smartest move. It wasn't like she was being mistreated at the moment. In the villain monologue she'd been treated to by the surprisingly pleasant-looking woman in charge of the anti-shinobi terrorist group that had been causing so many issues, it had been revealed that they were after her magic. Shocker.

Her children would be the 'next generation of their revolution.' Her daughter being their first little child soldier to fight in the non-existant war against shinobi-kind, of course. Hari snorted. Like she'd let that happen. Why was she always being targeted by crazy people with delusions of granduer, anyway?

They even had a husband picked out for her, a shy, bespectacled man name Haku. Poor Haku currently spent all of his time making meals that fit her nutritional needs and bringing her books and extra blankets and whatever else she decided she needed for her comfort.

He'd only tried to touch her once - something about rubbing her feet - and had been treated to a spectacular show of wandless magic that sent him flying through the door to crash into the wall across the hall. Now Haku was wearing a sling, and looked terrified when he was within ten feet of her.

Hari had also insisted that any of the orange chakra-sucking rock be removed from her vicinity.

"It doesn't affect you at all," the leader, who hadn't given her name, had sneered.

"Well, no, but who knows what it will do to the baby?" Hari had said patiently, and just like when she had made a list of her nutritional needs, the whole base had caved.

It was almost like being at home, but creepier.

"Ugh, Shikamaru and Shikaku are sure taking their time to get with the rescuing program for how 'big and strong' they claim to be," Hari grumbled, shifting uncomfortably and missing Shikaku's nightly back and foot rubs.

"Eh, men. Only ever around when you wish they'd scram."

Hari jolted in surprise as Michi melted out from the darkness in the corner of the room. She was pretty sure her jaw had dropped open in shock.

"Wha -"

"I'm here to rescue you. Shikaku asked me as a special favor."

She purred the last two words, and then jumped when the pitcher of water on the nightstand hit the wall next to her, covering her in shards of porcelain and water.

"Oops," Hari said airily. "Sorry, my magic gets away from me right now. Hormones, you know."

Michi glared at her from under dripping green bangs.

"Whatever. We're about two minutes away from a distraction, so haul your huge ass out of bed and come with me."

Hari narrowed her eyes, but didn't argue, shifting to the edge of the bed and grunting in discomfort.

"How are you even here?" Hari grumbled. "I know they have the perimeter lined in those chakra stones."

"I've got fuck all for chakra reserves, so it doesn't effect me as much. It's part of why I specialize in infiltration."

Hari waddled over to her, wand firmly in hand.

"Alright, we've got a taijutsu expert and a squad of samurai getting ready to attack. Get ready to move, princess."

The next ten minutes weren't the most stressful of Hari's life, but they weren't fun either. The small stone outpost the rebels had taken Hari to became a confusion of explosions and screams. Michi expertly led her through hallways that kept them away from the main fighting and spat them out into a back courtyard. When they got to a wall that Michi obviously expected her to somehow scale, Hari sent her an unimpressed look, then looked down at her gigantic stomach.

Both of them agreed afterward to never speak of the awkward scramble over the wall again. Michi because she'd accidentally dropped Hari five feet from the ground (her magic broke her fall) and Hari because being pushed by her bum as she scrambled over something that would usually be easy for her to scale by a swearing Michi was one of the most humiliating moments of her life. And she'd had articles written about her by Rita Skeeter, for god's sake.

As Hari waddled quickly away from the sounds of fighting, she looked back and did a double take as a green-clad figure sailed into the air, high enough to clear the wall, and yelled, "You are most unyouthful for kidnapping Shikamaru's beloved stepmother!"

She didn't see his landing, but she did feel the ground shake and see the chunks of stone and bodies flying through the air.

"What in the world," she muttered.

Michi smirked next to her.

"That," she said a little smugly, "Is our taijutsu expert."

When they finally made it to where Shikamaru and Sakura were waiting just outside the effect zone of the stones, his whole body slumped with relief, and she found herself being fussed at Nara style once again.

"Is Rai okay?" she mumbled into his shoulder when Sakura had finished searching her for major injuries and doing some field diagnostics on her baby bump.

"Aa. Worried about you and beating herself up, but she's fine."

She squeaked when he reached behind her knees to pick her up bridal style. To his credit he didn't stagger under her weight, though he could probably carry three times her mass without issue.

"Shikamaru, I can -"

"If you say you can walk, you'll be sorry," an aggravated Sakura said. "We have no idea what the stress of kidnapping might have done to you in your state."

Michi snorted, and was treated to two identical glares. Hari, however, became very interested in a loose thread on Shikamaru's flack jacket.

A moment of silence and then, "Hari? Something you want to tell us?" Shikamaru said a little too pleasantly.

"Uh. Nope. Nothing interesting to say here," she said, and tugged a little harder on the thread.

"What the princess isn't saying is that she was basically treated like, well, royalty in there from what I could tell," Michi said a little smugly from next to Shikamaru, where she'd fallen into step with him.

"She was in a king sized bed with about ten blankets and fifteen pillows, reading a magazine when I found her."

Hari coughed. "Well, they obviously didn't want to cause any stress to the baby -"

"Oh, and I suppose anything less than a five thousand thread count on your sheets would count as undue stress in your book, huh princess?" Michi taunted, then promptly tripped over nothing and would have fallen on her face if she wasn't a highly trained shinobi.

Hari kind of loved her magic on hormones.

"Call me princess again and -"

"And what, princess?" Michi taunted.

She shut up when Sakura turned to her and cracked her knuckles.

"You wanna stop provoking my patient, Michi-san?" Sakura asked, and all three of them gulped.

For somebody with pink hair, Sakura sure was terrifying.

"So, you weren't chained in a dungeon calling out for us to save you," Shikamaru said, and Hari laughed.

"No. Though I did have to blast the guy they'd chosen as my future husband through a wall when he tried to get fresh, if that makes anybody feel better about the effort you put into my rescue."

A voice belonging to the person she'd been almost constantly thinking about for the past two days broke into their conversation.

"What," her actual husband said in a deadly voice, and Hari twisted around to gape at the gathering of people in the clearing they'd just stepped into.

Shikaku, along with a samurai she'd seen coming out of the administration building a few times the past few months, and Inoichi and Chouza were standing next to a folding table with maps and papers spread across it.

"Shikaku," she whispered, and reached for him.

He was across the clearing before she could blink, plucking her from an annoyed looking Shikamaru. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and shoved her face into his neck, inhaling and trying not to cry.

"I knew you'd come for me," she said a little thickly, and ignored Michi's derisive snort.

"Alright, that's it," Shikamaru said, and Michi let out an undignified squawk behind her.

"Shikamaru, let her go," Inoichi said in a long-suffering voice.

"Of course I came," Shikaku said, and kissed her temple. "I'm sorry it took so long."

Hari just shrugged, and tightened her grip on him. "Sorry about what I said before I, uh, got kidnapped. And sorry about exploding your mother's vase," she muttered, and Sakura let out a giggle, obviously having heard.

"I never really liked that vase anyway," Shikaku said, and Hari's lips quirked against his neck.

"If I let her go, she'll just say something stupid again," Shikamaru was replying in the background in a bored voice. "Stupid people annoy me."

"Shikamaru, darling," Hari said without turning around, "You can't just shadow bind people because they're stupid."

She paused. "If you did that, you'd never be able to stop. Let Michi-san go - she did just rescue me," she grumbled unenthusiastically.

He sighed, but he must have listened because a moment later Michi was talking again.

"I've been a kunoichi longer than you've been breathing you little -"

"That's enough," Chouza said in a rarely-heard-from-him stern voice.

Michi shut up, and Hari tried not to radiate smugness as Shikaku walked over to a chair and carefully lowered her into it.

He knelt next to her and put his palm to her cheek, taking in her pink pajamas and nicely brushed hair with a raised eyebrow. She shrugged, and was saved from more teasing on the easiest kidnapping ever by a whirl of green descending from the trees around them.

"Dynamic entry!" The green-clad boy with a bowl cut she'd seen destroying her former prison called as he landed next to her husband, who sighed and stood.

"Lee-san, report," he said, and Hari felt a little shiver of lust move through her at his firm leader-face.

"You're drooling," Shikamaru grumbled from where he'd slouched up next to her as Lee enthusiastically described his battle with the 'Most Youthful and Esteemed Samurai.'

Hari scowled, then tugged at the hand in Shikamaru's pocket until he removed it with a questioning look. It softened when she threaded her fingers through his. She was feeling a little shaky now that she wasn't locked in a castle with a bunch of people planning to use her as a broodmare.

Shikamaru shuffled a little closer and squeezed her hand as Sakura shooed a bemused Shikaku away from her to heal a few scrapes and bruises she'd gotten while attempting to climb the wall.

"You're sure the baby's all right?" Hari muttered to her, and Sakura smiled.

"Everything seems fine, Hari-san," she said, and patted her hand. "We'll do an ultrasound with Tsunade as soon as we get back, okay?"

"...and we cleared out the chakra draining stones, and kept most of them alive as you requested, Inoichi-san," Lee finished with a thumbs up and bright smile.

Hari fell asleep watching Shikaku issue orders for the transport of prisoners at some point, leaning against Shikamaru's side with her back against a tree, wrapped in blankets. When she woke up, she was in her bed at home, and Eito was curled up at her side, his sister sprawled next to him. Rai was in a chair next to them, and when she saw Hari was awake, refused to meet her eyes.

She remembered what Shikamaru had said about Rai beating herself up over Hari's kidnapping, and sighed.

"Rai," she said, then repeated her name when she wouldn't even look at her. "Rai, I'm cold."

This had her jumping to her feet in alarm. "I'll get an extra blanket -"

"No. I want cuddles," Hari said imperiously, and Rai finally met her gaze to gape at her.

Hari raised an eyebrow. "Unless you're going to refuse to give a pregnant woman a hug."

Rai looked torn, but after a moment she clambered into the bed and moved to Hari's side.

Hari sighed and ran a hand over the top of her head, smoothing down some fly-aways that had escaped from her ponytail. It was hard to remember sometimes how young Rai really was, despite her strength as a shinobi.

"It's fine, Rai. You fought hard, and it all worked out."

Rai shrugged, but didn't reply. It would just have to be enough.

"Where is my husband?" she asked lightly.

"He and Shikamaru left a few hours ago. They got information on where the chakra stones are being mined from one of the prisoners, and they went with the samurai to find and destroy it," Rai said.

Hari pushed out her bottom lip in a pout. She'd barely gotten a chance to see Shikaku after her rescue, and he was already gone.

"We're all glad you're okay," Rai said. "The whole clan, I mean."

Hari's lips twitched and her chest warmed. "I'm glad to be back with you too," she whispered.

About Five Weeks Later

Shikamaru winced as the lights flickered again in his house, and Hari's pained yells drifted down the hall. He was pretty sure she was swearing in english, but he wasn't positive. Shikaku, Ino and Tsunade's quiet murmurs followed soon after, and Shikamaru forced himself to lean back against the couch and close his eyes.

Hari had suggested that they do the birth at home, since her magic tended to wreak havoc on machinery and she didn't want to wipe out the hospital's power if she lost control. That's why Shikamaru was in his living room listening to one of his favorite people wail in pain and bitch his father out by turns.

A gentle hand cupped his knee, and he opened his eyes and looked over at his fiancé, trying and failing to smile at him. Neji cocked his head to the side, and his face softened.

"She'll be fine. Tsunade-sama will make sure of it."

Shikamaru ran a hand down his face and nodded stiffly. He knew that Tsunade and Hari had been a bit worried about running into problems that Tsunade couldn't solve due to her magic, and the last few weeks had been tense. If something happened to Hari or the baby, his father would -

Shikamaru stood to stop those thoughts in their tracks, and started pacing - a very uncharacteristic thing for him to do. He couldn't help himself, though. A year and a half ago, it had been just him and his dad, and while he loved his father, they were both too alike, too wrapped in their own thoughts. It had been lonely, though neither would ever admit it out loud.

Then he'd gone on that mission to Fruit Country, and everything had changed. Hari had seemed like any other princess when he first laid eyes on her. Beautiful, yes - her exotic eyes and milky white skin certainly cut a striking figure, but nothing special outside of that. Then he'd watched as she volunteered herself for an arranged marriage to save people she'd barely known for two years, simply because they were her family, and he'd become interested.

He wasn't sure what he expected when he approached her for a conversation on the balcony all those months ago, but what he'd found was a friend. Hari was brave, loyal, brash, and kind. She took care of the people around her, and didn't falter when she felt she needed to do something. On the way back to Konoha he'd discovered that she was a warrior in her own right - not a shinobi, but a fighter just the same.

When she'd chosen his father as her match, they'd only grown closer. Hari couldn't fill the space that his mother had left when she died - she didn't even try. Instead she became almost like an older sister figure. He was now used to the way she filled his formerly cold house with affection. She patted him on the head, offered him smiles, and even called him darling - an endearment she previously only used with Eito and Natsu. He had to admit he enjoyed her particular brand of fussing.

When he was in trouble, she'd stepped up without hesitation, bullying a bunch of stubborn elders into giving him something he thought he'd never have - Neji as his husband. When she'd appeared in that room where he was being tortured, all billowing red cloak and furious eyes, Shikamaru had known without a doubt that she'd save him. There was just something about her that made people believe that obstacles could be overcome.

In short, he loved her, adored her really. Not as much as his father did - the man was wrapped around her finger, it was obvious in the way he'd lose his train of thought when she walked by, or suddenly turn into a pliant housecat when she smiled at him.

The clan was fiercely protective of her, as well - after the kidnapping Nara were suddenly popping up to lounge about wherever she happened to be, with convenient excuses as to why they were there. Hari's bouts of temper at their coddling had only endeared her to them more - his clan tended to like fiery women who yelled at them. Behind her back they would grumble about how cute she was, then take a nap to recover from a day of following her around.

So yes, Shikamaru was feeling a little panicked over the thought of something going wrong. If the chakra signatures he could feel lazily circling the house were any indication, the whole compound was feeling the same way.

He was broken from his thoughts by a long, pained scream from Hari, mostly covering up the excited encouragements the two medics were giving. A few moments after the scream ended, the wail of a baby cut through the silence, and Shikamaru's breath hitched as he heard his sister's voice for the first time.

He found himself hurrying down the hall, but forced himself to stop outside the door, knowing he probably wasn't welcome in the room quite yet. Neji, having followed him, put a hand between his shoulder blades and rubbed down his spine soothingly, and Shikamaru was thankful when he didn't try to speak.

The minutes ticked by slowly, and he felt himself getting more and more tense as he focused on the low voices filtering out into the hall. Nobody was panicking, so he assumed Hari and the baby were both fine, but he was still feeling jumpy.

Finally, Tsunade raised her voice. "Alright, brat, quit hovering, it's annoying."

She had barely finished her sentence before Shikamaru was darting into the room, eyes moving past a smiling Ino to land on the bed, where Hari, exhausted and pale but smiling, was holding a blanket wrapped bundle in her arms. His father was stretched out next to her, staring down at the infant in obvious awe.

"Well," Hari said in a raspy voice, "Come over here and meet your sister, you two."

Shikamaru swallowed and quickly crossed the room, then knelt carefully on the bed next to Hari.

He took in the red, squashed face of his baby sister, now dozing in Hari's arms, and his breath hitched as he was hit with a wave of such fierce love that he actually swayed for a moment.

"She is beautiful," Neji said from next to him, and Shikamaru could only nod mutely in agreement.

"We thought we'd name her Sachiko. What do you think?" Shikaku said gruffly, and Shikamaru's lips quirked up.

"It's perfect. She's perfect." He agreed.

"She is," Hari whispered, and looked up at him in wonder. "She really is."

Shikamaru lay down and made himself comfortable at her side. All that worrying had made him sleepy.

000

Shikamaru, Eito and Natsu adored Sachiko. Hari or Shikaku would get up to attend to her when she woke up crying in the middle of the night, and would instead end up watching, bemused, as the three of them argued over who got to hold her or change her diaper or feed her a bottle of breast milk Hari kept in the fridge.

"I thought siblings were supposed to be jealous when a new baby came along," Shikaku said as the whole Nara family decided to just crawl into bed with them while Hari fed Sachiko one night.

"Meh, jealousy is a pain," Shikamaru grumbled from where he was sprawled at the end of the bed.

"Who would be jealous of something as cute as Sachi-chan?" Natsu whispered, and Eito nodded solemnly in agreement.

"Well, I'll admit to some jealousy," Neji said from the doorway, and Shikamaru cringed before turning to his fiancé, who was looking distinctly unimpressed.

Shikamaru cleared his throat.

"Right, well, I'm just going to go back to bed now," he muttered, and slouched out of the room, actually sending a longing look over his shoulder as he left. Neji rolled his eyes and grabbed him by the elbow to drag him away, muttering about empty beds and dramatic Nara men.

Shikaku buried his laughter into Hari's shoulder as Eito and Natsu giggled unashamedly on her other side. Sachiko let out a sleepy protest at the noise, and they immediately went silent.

Hari fell asleep that night surrounded by her family with a smile on her face, feeling so, so thankful for the way things turned out.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-

**Next time.**

**Shikamaru goes up against a 19 month old and loses. Terribly.**


	4. Chapter 4

Sachiko eyed the peas in front of her. "No," she said, and turned her face away.

"Sachi-chan, you have to eat," Shikamaru said, voice pleading. "Just four bites." She sent him a scathing glare. "Okay, two bites."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Pudding," she said slyly, and he thumped his head down on the table.

"I cannot give you pudding for lunch, dad would kill me. Just. Please. This is the third dish we've tried. How about...some chicken?"

Sachiko glared.

"Okay, well...cheese?"

Her nose went up into the air. "I mean...squash? Hari said you liked squash!"

Sachiko's stomach made a loud grumbling noise, and her eyes filled with tears.

"Oh, no," Shikamaru mumbled.

"Hungry," she whimpered.

He held up a spoonful of mashed peas hopefully. Her lower lip wobbled. It was adorable, damn her.

"Fine," he said with a sigh. "Pudding."

He didn't miss the smug look she sent his way as he sulked over to the fridge.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

End of this book.

I hope you enjoyed this story a lot.

Thanks for reading!

Next time in the second book :

Hermoine and Ron have finally figured out how to find Harriet after almost five years of looking. With George and Ginny by their sides, they follow their best friend to the Elemental Nations...only to discover she might not need that rescue, after all.

Also they, uh, may have forgotten one teeny, tiny little detail...like how exactly they'll be getting back to Wizarding London.


End file.
